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HERMAN 



THE POISON FIEND! 



LIFE, HUES, Al CONVICTION 



OF 



LTDIA SHEEMAI, 

(THE MODERN LUCRETIA BORGIA,) 

EECENTLY TBIED IN NEW HAVEN, CONN., FOR 

POISONING 

THREE HUSBM AND EIGHT OF HER CHTLDEEH. 

****«*/ — • — u^» . . >t — ■"•—■■•*• * 

HER LIFE IN FULL! 

EXCITING ACCOUNT OF HER TRIAL-THE FEARFUL EVIDENCE 

MOST STARTLING AND SENSATIONAL SERIES OF CRIMES 
EVER COMMITTED IN THIS COUNTRY. 



HER CONVICTION 

AJST> 

ONPESSIO 



PHILADELPHIA : 

BARCLAY & CO., PUBLISHERS, 

21 N. Seventh Street. 
1873. 



* 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873; by 
E. B. BARCLAY & CO., 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D, G» 



Lydia Sherman-Her Life. 



P 



jtf I YDIA SHEKMAN, her maiden name Danbury, is a native of 
I T Burlington, N. J. When she was less than a year old, her 
mother died, and her father became a butcher at Trenton. She 
lived under the paternal roof until her father remarried, when, 
not liking her stepmother, she went to live with her aunt at New Bruns- 
wick. Here she remained until seventeen years old, when she became 
acquainted with Edward Struck, a police officer in one of the upper 
wards of New York City, to, whom she was married. Struck had been 
married before, and had two children, who were now placed under guar- 
dians. The newly married couple lived together nearly seven years, dur- 
ing which time six children were born. And now begin the awful events 
which throw such an air of mystery around the woman accused of eleven 
murders. First h'er husband was taken sick and suddenly died. It 
appears that a physician attended, who said he didn't know what the man 
died of. The symptoms, as described by those who saw him, were 
those of a person who had taken poison. Mrs. Sherman said the 
cause of his death' was his getting up in the absence of the doctor and 
taking the wrong medicine. Subsequent to the death of her husband, 
her children, six in number, all died inside of about two years, and no 
one seemed to know what ailed them, except this — they all died sud- 
denly. 

Mrs. Sherman — or Mrs. Struck, as she was then named — spent two 
years after the death of her first husband as a seamstress and nurse. She 
next got employment in a sewing machine store in Canal street, where 
3 e made the acquaintance of a Mr. Curtis, who afterward engaged her to 
live with his mother at Stratford, about nine miles from this place. It 
was while living there that she became acquainted with her second hus~ 
band, a man named Ilurlbut, who lived at Huntington, and who was 
thought to be quite well off. At his death he left considerable real estate, 
beside §10,000 in cash. This man had lived quietly and economically as 
a farmer and fisherman, and was well known to all around by the name 
V "Old Hurihut" Mrs Sberman professed a great fondness for her hus- 

19 



±0 LYDIA SHERMAN. 

band, and it was not long before lie made a will bequeathing all bis pio 
perty to her in the event of his death. They lived on, apparently happy, 
the neighbors noticing that every time he returned from his business she 
met him at the door and kissed him. Time passed on, and one day Dr. 
Church, the village physician, was summoned to attend Mr. Hurlbut 
On arriving at the house he found him suffering acute pains in the head 
and stomach, accompanied by an intense burning, as if the patient had a 
violent fever. Dr. Church, becoming alarmed at the critical condition of 
his patient, sent for consulting physicians. " Old Hurlbut " died before 
the doctors had agreed upon a diagnosis, and was buried out of sight. 

Nelson H. Sherman was a skilled mechanic and a man much loved for 
his genial spirits. Indeed his greatest fault was too much generosity. A 
little more than a year and a half ago his wife died, leaving him with four 
children, the eldest, a son named Nelson, aged seventeen ; a daughter 
Addie, aged fourteen; another boy, Nattie, aged four years, and an infant 
five months old. 

Nelson H. Sherman first became acquainted with the widow Hurlbut 
at her residence, near the river in Derby, Conn., and after a short court- 
ship was married to her in September of last year. They settled in the 
house where Sherman and his children died. Yrom that stage on to the 
present time the facts relating to the career of this mysterious woman are 
clearer and more terrible in proportion. The next person to become 
*■ suddenly ill " was Mr. Sherman's infant by his former wife, which died 
in a few days. The next victim, either to the devilish designs of the 
prisoner or to the strangest series of fatalities on record, was the much- 
loved daughter of Mr. Sherman. Her father, as soon as he found her 
symptoms were dangerous, became greatly alarmed, and summoned the 
advice of a number of physicians. The symptoms in all these cases 
appeared to be the same — that of acute pains in the head and stomach, 
with intense fever. The doctors found it impossible to help the girl, and 
in a few days she was lying in the grave beside her infant sister. 

It now transpires that Sherman and his wife, though but recently mar- 
ried, had already had secret troubles of a very serious nature, and, 
though living in the same house, did not cohabit. Mr. Sherman had for 
some time slept with the baby, and Mrs. Sherman had slept alone. On 
the 11th of May, Sherman started off with a number of friends 
for New Haven, telling his wife he would be back that night. It 
appears that the party all got to drinking in New Haven, Sherman among 
the rest and did not return for about a week. "When they proposed to 
go back, Sherman objected to going at all, and so the rest of the party 
went by the cars, leaving Sherman with the team in the city. Young 
Nelson, after waiting a day or two longer, said he was going to find his 
father. Mrs. Sherman gave him $2.50 and he went in search. Sherman 
war found in a den with low people. The father and boy returned 



LYDIA SHERMAN. 21 

together. Slierman was in a very bad way, and unable to go to work for 
several days. Finally, when lie did go to the factory, he appeared very 
low spirited, and would not go home to his meals. Mrs. Sherman here 
appeared to have considerable regard for him, for each day she sent his 
meals to him, the best she could get. About this time Mrs. Sherman 
remonstrated with her husband for refusing to cohabit, saying it waa 
wrong. He replied that " he knew too much of her, and that he should 
so&n begin to talk out to her." He also told her that many of the neigh- 
bors knew as much as he did, and that there would soon be trouble. Mrs. 
Sherman was still doctoring her husband for hi-s sickness, mixing up vari- 
ous kinds of potions, which he drank. Each time that he came into thf 
house she greeted him with a kiss. 

About the 1st of June, Sherman, after drinking his usual evening 
beverage mixed by his wife, went down town. In two hours after he 
came back, sat -down on a chair and said he had a bad headache. The 
headache was followed by a raging fever, and fearful cramps in the 
stomach. Drs. Kinney and Beardsley both attended him, but he died 
after two days, suffering dreadful agonies. The doctors held another con- 
sultation after his death, and, as the symptoms of the sick man had been 
precisely those of his two daughters, they decided to hold a post-mor- 
tem examination. Accordingly, the stomach was taken out, besides about 
i a third part of the liver. These were boxed up and sent to Professor 
Barker, at New Haven, for analysis. It required nearly three weeks to 
make the analysis, and it is only a short time since that the startling report 
of the proof went in, saying the liver had been found perfectly saturated 
with arsenic, and that there was enough in it to kill three men. A war- 
rant was at once sued out for Mrs. Sherman's arrest, and put in the hands 
of Deputy SheriffHenry A. Blakeman for execution at the proper time. 
Since the suspicion had grown so strong, young Nelson, his brother 
Nattie, and their grandmother, had all left the house, through fear that 
they might become the next victims if they stayed. Mrs. Sherman was 
not arrested immediately, but she was closely watched by the sheriff and 
the men employed by him. Although the report of the chemist had been 
kept as secret as possible, its import had become known, and was dis- 
cussed on the public street. In two or three days, Mrs. Sherman, not 
knowing that she was watched, quietly removed to New Brunswick, N 
J., where the police had the woman under surveillance for two 01 
three weeks, awaiting the collection of sufficient evidence to warrant her 
fcrest and to enable the officers to secure a requisition from Gov. Jewell. 
On the 7th, Deputy Sheriff Blakeman, of New Haven, Conn., arrived 
at New Brunswick and communicated all his facts to Chief of Police, 
Oliver. The woman had gone to New York, where she was being 
shadowed by a detective, and the officers awaited her return at the depot 
for several hours. She came on the 10.50 train, with a companion, and 
was immediately arrested. 



n LYDIA SHERMAN. 

Immediately after she had left Derby, and succeeding the cbath of the 
child, the friends of Mr. Sherman took steps to investigate the matter^ 
and to that end had the body of Mr. Sherman and those of the two 
children exhumed. The officers who came to make the arrest state thai 
undeniable evidence of poison was found upon all three of the bodies, 
and that it was plainly seen in the stomach of the last buried of the three. 
They also state that they have been able to fix upon the alleged murderer 
the purchase of poison similar to that of which traces were found. Tha 
poison was vegetable and of an unusual character, the officers being 
unable to give its name. They were not disposed to be' communicative; 
but-the above facts were elicited. They were armed with warrants and a 
requisition from Gov. Jewell. After the arrest Chief Oliver and Detec- 
tive Mitchell conveyed the woman to the office of District Attorney Her- 
bert, where she was detained until four o'clock, at which time she was 
taken to New Haven, accompanied by Sheriff Blakemam and Detective 
Mitchell. The statements of the officers leave no doubt that the woman 
is guilty of one of the most startling and sensational series of crimes that 
has ever been committed in this part of the country. 




THE TEIAL OF LYDIA SHERMAN. 



HE excitement attending the trial of Mrs. Lydia Sherman, at New 
Haven, Conn., for murdering by poison her third husband, Nel- 
'<^hP son H. Sherman of Birmingham, in the same State, was nearly as 
C& great as that which attended the recent trial of Mrs. Wharton, 
also charged with having been a poisoner. Her preliminary examina- 
tion, before Justice Piatt, was held at Birmingham on the 6th and 7th 
July last ; she was examined upon the charge of murdering her husband. 
It appears that sometime in the fall of last year, Mrs. Sheiman, who 
was then the widow of Dennis Hurlbut, who had died very suddenly 
and mysteriously, after willing his property, worth $10,000, to her, made 
the acquaintance of Nelson H. Sherman, a widower, employed in a fac- 
tory at Birmingham. For several weeks she visited his family — which 
consisted of himself and four children, the youngest of whom was aged 
one year — and finally, about a year ago, they were married, and Mrs. 
Sherman was installed as the second wife of Sherman. Frank, the 
youngest child of Sherman, was taken sick in December, and after a few 
days' illness, while under the care of his stepmother and of his grand- 
mother, Mrs. Jones, died with all the symptoms of arsenical poison. 
A few weeks later another child, Addie, a beautiful girl, aged fifteen 



LYDIA SHEKMAjn. 2& 

And a universal favorite in the village, was taken sick and died on 23 ew 
Year's eve of last year. She, too, showed symptoms of poison. In the 
May following, Sherman, who was a dissipated man, was taken ill and 
died, with symptoms of arsenical poison, on the 12 th of that month. The 
evidence of Dr. Ambrose Beardsley, the Health Officer of the town and 
the physician who attended Sherman and his two children, showed that 
they had died of arsenical poison. 

After Sherman's death Lydia left for New Jersey, ostensibly on a visit 
Dr. Beardsley's suspicions having been aroused, he communicated with 
Dr. Kinney, a post-mortem examination was had upon Sherman, and later 
the graves of the children were opened, the contents of the stomachs 
secured and sent to New Ilaven for analysis. 

The parties who had taken these preliminary proceedings acted very 
secretly, and on receiving the report of the chemises that sufficient arsenic 
was found in the stomach of each victim to cause death, they instituted 
inquiries into the antecedents of Mrs. Sherman, when the facts of her 
marriage to Dennis Ilurlbut, a wealthy farmer, living in an adjoining 
town, and his mysterious death were ascertained. One Very strong cir- 
cumstance regarding Ilurlbut's taking off was that the only person who 
was an occupant of the house with him during his illness was his wife, 
the accused. His grave was opened, the stomach secured and sent to 
New Haven for analysis. Unmistakable evidence of poison was founc 7 
in its contents. Having carefully woven the web of circumstantial evi 
dence around the accused, Dr. Beardsley and his associates comri.unicated 
their investigations to A. H. Gilbert, the local Grand Juror, who went be- 
fore Judge Pratt and secured a warrant for the arrest of the female Borgia. 
This was placed in the hands of Sheriff Henry A. Blakeman, who pro- 
ceeded to New Jersey and, arresting her, conveyed her to Birmingham, 
where the preliminary investigation already referred to was had, Colonel 
William B. Wooster and E. K. Foster, State Prosecuting Attorney, ap- 
pearing for the people, and George B. Waterous of New Haven, and 
S. M. Gardener of Derby, for the defence. After a three-days' patient 
hearing, she was committed to the county jail of New Haven on tha 
charge of poisoning her husband. 

This is considered one of the weakest cases of all the alleged murders 
committed by her in this State. The evidence heretofore given show* 
that she could have no incentive to the murder of Sherman unless to rid 
herself of a worthless husband, who had no property of his own, and 
upon whom she had squandered several thousand dollars inherited from 
Hurlbut, that she might marry a more wealthy one. In the death of tha 
children she could not achieve any gain ; in the death of her previous 
husband, Hurlbut, there was an incentive to the commission of the foul 
deed of which she is suspected. He was wealthy and had made his will, 
bequeathing aF his effects to her. He was taken suddenly sick at hi* 



26 LYD1A SHEEMAN. 

farmhouse ; a neighbor passing was called in and requested to summon 
a physician. Dr. Sbelton was called, prescribed, and liurlbut died three 
days after, and was laid away in his last sleep, no one being in the house 
who could administer poison but the accused, who attended him in his 
illness. Yet, Professor George F. Barker, who made the analysis of the 
stomach, swears that Dennis liurlbut died from arsenical poison. If 
acquitted on the charge of poisoning Sherman, she will likely be placed 
on trial f jr poisoning the children, Frank and Addie. These three are the 
only murders charged against her in this county, and in the event of her 
acquittal she will no doubt be handed over to the authorities of Fairfield 
county to answer the charge of poisoning her second husband, Dennis 
Hurlbut, the evidence in which case is very explicit, and by all who are 
familiar with the facts is believed -to be sufficient to convict her of the 
grave suspicions entertained that she killed Hurlbut for his property. 

While these investigations were progressing, the authorities instituted 
inquiries into her antecedents in New York, when it was discovered that 
she probably poisoned her first husband, Edward Struck, a policeman, and 
five children, some of whom were her own offspring by him. She* was 
married to Struck, who was then a coachman in the employ of a man 
named Butler, at Manhattanville, in the year 1846. They lived ap- 
parently on affectionate terms for several years, and had several children, 
Mrs. Struck, now Sherman, being a devout communicant in the First 
Presbyterian Church of Manhattanville. 

In 1864 Struck died, after a short illness, and was buried in Trinity 
Cemetery. lie was appointed on the police force in January, 1857, and 
dismissed in December, 1863, for violation of rules. The next member 
of the family that '" shuffled off the mortal coil " was Edward Struck, Jr., 
aged about four years, who followed his father on July 5th, 1864, to 
Trinity Cemetery, and the same day his little sister Martha died, aged 
six years and nine months. The next to find a resting place in Trinity 
was William Struck, aged nine months and fifteen days. Then, on the 
9th of March, 1866, Ann Eliza Struck, aged twelve years, died, and was 
laid away to rest in the family plot. But death did not stop here. On 
May 19th, 1866, Lydia Struck, an accomplished young lady, aged eigh- 
teen years, eight months and eleven days, breathed her last at the family 
residence. The record in the Bureau of Vital Statistics, is as follows : 

Edward "W. Struck, aged fifty-nine years; residence, Tenth avenue; birthplace, 
New Jersey ; died of consumption ; interred at Trinity Cemetery ; died May 26, 1864; 
attending physician, Dr. N. llustead. 

July 5, 18G4.— Edward Struck, aged four years and three months ; residence, Tenth 
avenue ; a native of New York ; died of remittent fever; buried at Trinity Cemetery; 
Attending physician, Dr. G. Jackson. 

July 5, 1864.— William Struck, aged nine months and fifteen days; residence, Nor- 
folk street ; native New York ; died of bronchitis ; buried at Trinity Cemetery ; 
attendirg physician, Dr. B. Gross. 



LYDIA SHERMAN. 27' 

March 9, 1856. — Anna E. Struck, aged twelve years ; residence, corner of Law- 
rence street and Broadway; died of typhoid fever; buried at Trinity Cemetery; 
undertaker, L. Zangner; attending physician, L. Rodenstein. 

May 19, 18CG. — Lydia Struck, aged eighteen years, eight months and eleven days; 
residence corner of Lawrence street and Broadway; died of typhoid fuver ; ouried ia 
Trinity Cemetery ; attending physician, Dr. L. A. Rodenstein." 

Rev. Mr. Payson, of the Harlem Presbyterian Church, was present at 
the bedside of Lydia Struck when she died, and he describes the symp- 
toms attending her illness as those of poisoning, and recounted some 
months ago very suspicious circumstances against the accused. 

It is said that Cornelius Struck, a conductor on the Third Avenue 
Railroad, and son of the deceased Struck, asked District Attorney 
Garvin to cause the bodies of his family to be exhumed and an analysis 
made of the stomachs. The motive that prompted this remarkable 
woman to administer poison to her victim, cannot, except in tho 
case of Hurlbut, be divined. There are many in this country who 
attributed it to a mania for life-taking, and if such be the case, there is 
ground for grave suspicions that she may be responsible for more deaths 
Still, as she was for some time employed as nurse by Dr. L. Rodenstein 
in his practice in the upper part of the city, and may have been admin 
istering deathly draughts to some of his patients. The indictment upon 
which she was arraigned was found on the 21st of September. It charges 
that, at the town of Derby, on the 8th of May, 1871, Lydia Sherman, 
wife of Nelson II. Sherman, late of said place, did feloniously, wilfully, 
etc., mix and mingle a great quantity of deadly poison, called white arsenic, . 
with a quantity of chocolate, which she administered to the said Sherman, 
who died on the 12th of May, and that the said Lydia Sherman is guilty 
of murder in the first degree. The second charge is the administration 
of poison in certain slings between the 8th and 12th of May, and at divers 
other times, and that Lydia Sherman is guilty of murder in the first 
degree. The fourth and last count, drawn by Colonel Wooster, of Derby . 
is the same as the first, except that there are changes in the verbiaga 

ANALYSI3 OF THE DEAD MAX'S STOJIACH AND LIVER, 

The report of George M. Barker, M. D., of Yale College, to whom the 
stomach and liver of the deceased were sent for examination, has been 
jarefully drawn up and is as follows : 

A portion of the organ examined was finely divided, placed in an 
evaporating dish with twice its bulk of distilled water, strongly acid\> 
lated with pure hydrochloric acid, a few grammes potassium chloride 
added, and the whole gently heated. In from three to eight hours gene- 
rally the organic matter was destroyed, and a clear yellow liquid obtained. 
This was filtered, heated so long as the odor of chlorine was perceptible. 
*nd treated with a sIot* stream of washed hydrogen sulphide gta from 



28 LYDIA SHERMAN. 

twelve to sixteen hours. After standing for several hours the liquid warf 
filtered from the precipitate, the latter washed free from chlorine, dried 
on the water bath, thoroughly oxidized with pure nitric acid, and then 
heated with pure sulphuric acid until completely charred and fumes of the 
acid appeared. After cooling, pure hydrochloric acid was added — gently 
heating the mass at the same time — and the whole was filtered, the resi- 
due bemg washed until no longer acid. The filtrate was then treated 
for twelve hours with hydrogen sulphide gas ; the precipitate, after stand 
fug for a time, was collected on a filter and thoroughly washed. The pre- 
*fpitate was then treated with pure ammonium hydrate and sulphydrate 
generally heated to boiling and poured upon tne filter. The filtrato 
and washings of the residue were received in a porcelain capsule, 
evaporated to dryness, oxidized with pure fuming nitric acid, again evapa-- 
rated nearly to dryness, treated with pure sodium carbonate in considera- 
ble excess, with the addition of some pure sodium nitrate, completely 
dried and heated to complete fusion. After cooling, the fused mass was 
dissolved in cold water, filtered, the filtrate and washings acidified with 
pure sulphuric acid, and evaporated until fume3 of the sulphuric acid 
were evolved. After cooling a strong solution of pure sulphuric acid- 
was added, the whole was again evaporated till fumes appeared, and the 
solution thus obtained, diluted with distilled water, was treated with 
washed hydrogen sulphide gas for twelve hours. The pure yellow pre- 
cipitate of arsenious sulphide thus obtained — which, from ohe very nature 
of the processes, could be nothing else — was allowed to stand a few hours, 
was then filtered off, washed, and dissolved in pure ammonium hydrate 
poured on the filter. The filtrate was received in a previously-weighed 
capsule of porcelain, evaporated carefully to dryness on the water bath at 
100 degrees centigrade, allowed to cool, and weighed. The increase of 
weight represented the weight of the arsenious sulphide, from which, 
since 100 parts correspond to 80'5 parts of white arsenic or arsenious 
oxide, the quantity of the latter may easily be calculated. After weigh- 
ing this sulphide it was thoroughly oxidized by repeated evaporation with 
pure fuming nitric acid, the excess of acid removed by repeated evapora- 
tion with distilled water the residue dissolved in water, and a portion of 
it tested with ammonio-silver nitrate. A brick-red precipitate of silver 
arsenate was produced. The rest of the solution was evaporated with a 
solution of sulphuric acid until no odor of the latter appeared. A por- 
tion of the solution thus obtained was tested with ammonio-silver nitrate ; 
it gave a canary -yellow precipitate of silver arsenite. A second portion 
tested with ammonio-cupric sulphate gave a green precipitate of copper 
arsenite. The residue in the capsule was then divided into two portions ; 
one of these was treated with pure sodium carbonate in excess, carefully 
and thoroughly dried and mixed with ten times its weight of a well-dried 
mixture composed of one part potassium cyanide and three of pur* 



LYDIA SHERMAN. 29 

Bodium carbonate. Portions of this mixture were then heated in bulbs 
blown on the ends of tubes of hard glass ; brilliant mirrors of metallic 
arsenic were obtained, a strong odor of garlic being* at the same time 
developed. On sealing one of these tubes and heating the deposit within, 
it was found to be readily volatile, condensing, if sufficient air be present, 
in brilliant transparent crystals easily identified as 7 octahedrons of arseni- 
ous oxide. Other portions of the mixture were then tested by the method 
of Fresenius and Babo, u <?., were placed in tubes of hard glass drawn o\i 
at the end, through which a slow stream of carbonic gas was passing, and 
were heated to redness. Brilliant black mirrors of metallic arsenic were 
produced in this way, which afforded, on oxidation, brilliant octahedral 
crystals of arsenious oxide. The second part of the above solution was 
divided into two equal parts ; one of these was tested by the method of 
Reinsch, the other by that of Marsh. In the former method the liquid 
was acidulated with pure hydrochloric acid; a strip of metallio -copper 
was introduced and the whole heated to boiling. The copper became 
eovered with a steel-gray coating of metallic arsenic, which passed as it 
increased into black. On washing, drying, and heating the copper slip 
in a tube of hard glass a brilliant sublimate of arsenious oxide crystals 
were obtained. For Marsh's test hydrogen was generated by action of 
pure dilute sulphuric acid on zinc ; this gas was passed through a tube 
containing fragments of solid potassium hydrate, "and then of calcium 
chloride, by which it was purified and dried, and then through a long 
tube of hard glass, drawn out at intervals. After the air was expelled 
from the apparatus the latter was heated to redness for an hour. No 
spot or stain was observed beyond the heated portion, proving the purity 
of the materials employed. The liquid to be tested was then poured into 
the generating flask, small portions at a time. The constricted part of 
the tube, beyond the heated portion, soon showed a hair-brown deposit of 
metallic arsenic, which darkened as it accumulated, becoming finally a 
lustrous black mirror. At the same time the flame of the hydrogen gas, 
burning at the end of the tube, became whiter, evolved white fumes of 
arsenious oxide, and deposited upon pieces of cold porcelain held in it 
mirror-like spots of metallic arsenic. Several deposits in the tube were 
obtained ; on passing a slow stream of hydrogen sulphide gas through 
one of these, and gently heating, a bright yellow deposit of arsenious sul- 
phide was obtained by sublimation. A second tube was sealed at the 
ends, and the metallic arsenic was oxidized by sublimating it in the air 
present. A white ring easily seen to be made up of octahedra of arse- 
nious oxide was readily obtained. Portions of the original precipitate 
of arsenious sulphide, and of the subsequently obtained precipitate of 
silver arsenate, and of copper and of silver arsenate, together with the 
sublimates of metallic arsenic and arsenious oxide, obtained by the reduc- 
tion test, bv Fresenius's and B abo's test, by Eeinsch's and Marsh's test and 



ftO LYDIA SHERMAN. 

the arsenious sulphide obtained by sublimation from the metallic arsenic^ 
were enclosed in tubes, which were carefully sealed, and are here. The 
purity of all the chemicals used in the above processes and the cleanness 
erf the vessels and apparatus employed were tested by submitting a piece 
of beef's liver about the same size as the piece of human liver taken to 
the same process throughout, using the same materials and the same ves 
sels. No trace of arsenic could be discovered by this means ; the mate- 
rials must therefore "have been pure and the vessels employed clean. The 
quantity of white arsenic obtained from six and two-thirds ounces of the 
liver of Nelson H. Sherman, was 0*485 grain, corresponding to nearly 
five grains for the whole liver. From eight ounces of the liver of Den- 
nis Hurlbut 0*929 was obtained ; the whole liver must contain between 
seven and eight grains. Two-thirds of Dennis Ilurlbut's stomach afforded 
4*75 grains white arsenic, corresponding to 6*33 grains for the entire 
stomach. The arsenious sulphide obtained in these cases I here produce. 

first day. 

Lydia Sherman was placed on trial Tuesday, April 16th. She appeared 
unusually cheerful ; she was dressed in a neat black alpaca dress, trim- 
med with silk velvet, a mixed black and white woollen shawl, white straw 
hat, trimmed with black velvet and brown plume, from which drooped 
over her face a thin lace veil, through which her features were plainly 
marked, and upon her hands were black kid gloves. After the empanel- 
ling of the jury she left the prisoner's box and took her seat beside her 
counsel, Messrs. Waterous, of this city, and S. M. Gardener, of Derby. 

A little before eleven o'clock Judge Sanclford again took his seat on 
the bench, and was accompanied by Justice Park of the Supreme Court, 
who was associated with him in the trial, the law requiring one of the 
Supreme Court Justices to be present. There appeared as counsel for the 
State, B. K. Foster, Col. William B. Wooster, and Col. Torrance, of Der- 
by, and for the accused, Mr. George B. Waterous of New Haven, and 
Samuel M. Gardener of Derby. 

At eleven o'clock Mr. Foster, the State Attorney, arose and said : The 
grand jury have indicted Lydia Sherman for the murder of Nelson H. 
jSherman, and I move the Court that she be put on trial. 
1 Mr. Wooster. — Das the prisoner been put to plea ? 

Mr. Foster. — She has not, I think. 

The prisoner then arose and the clerk commenced to read the indict 
merit. As the reading commenced, Mr. Waterous said : Is it necessary 
that she should stand ? The indictment is rather long. 

The Court said that it was not, and Mr. Waterous then walked over to 
the prisoner and informed her that she might sit, but she smilingly 
declined, and said she would remain standing. The reading proceeded 
the prisoner observing it carefully but with perfect calmness. 



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LYDIA SHEKMAN. 35 

Tbe clerk then said : To this indictment what is your plea, guilty or 
Vol guilty ? 

The prisoner responded with rapidity, not guilty, sir. 

The Cou ft thf.n said : Call the jury, Mr. Sheriff. 

At this juncture, the sister of the prisoner, Mrs. Nafey, of New Bruns- 
wick, N. J., came into the court-room and went up to the dock, and the 
prisoner arising with bright smiles, grasped her sister's hand and kissed 
tier heartily, while tears ran down her face. These she suppressed quickly, 
and immediately afterward shook hands with her brother-in-law, who 
then came up, and also kissed him, and she did the same to a brother, 
Mr. Joseph Danbury, of New Brunswick. 

The jurymen were the following-named: Messrs. Ilorace Thompson, 
Almon P. Rowe, Dwight W. Tuttle, Eli Parmele, Ira A. Doolittle, 
Leonard Doolittle, Hiram Wooding, Edward N. Potter, Philo Bradley, 
Chauncey Williard, John Williard, Walter Ilough. 

THE TRIAL. 

Dr. Beardsley, of Derby, was the first witness called. He gave his 
testimony as follows : 

I was the family physician of Sherman ; was called to see the deceased 
Tuesday, May 9th, 1871, when the prisoner met me and expressed her 
anxiety to see me ; Sherman told me that he thought he had one of his 
old turns; I found his symptoms to be nausea, vomiting, parched mouth 
and throat, great thirst, sharp pain in stomach, racking pain in bowels, 
hot, dry skin, quick pulse and some faintness ; was told that he had been 
off on a spree of a week, and came home sick ; in reply to my question 
why Mrs. Sherman gave her husband money, she said that she had some 
trouble with him, that he had spent $1200 or $1500 of her money, and 
that she had tried to control him in vain. I gave him one-eighth grain 
morphine and one grain blue pill, to be taken every two hours ; he said 
that upon the previous night he had been taken with severe pain in the 
head, followed by nausea and vomiting until I saw him ; he said he had 
eaten a light supper, and had eaten nothing unusual ; I gave with pre- 
scription named some directions in regard to treatment during the nighfc 
and departed ; I saw him at 11 P. M., and found him no better, with symp- 
toms same as before ; I took precautions in regard to night and left ; on Wed- 
nesday morning there appeared a lull in the degree of severity in symp- 
toms ; vomiting, thirst, etc., etc., were less severe ; this was Wednesday, 
A. M., March 10th, when I prescribed cooling drinks, means to obtain an 
evacuation and measures to relieve pain ; that evening all of the symp- 
toms were aggravated ; the matter thrown from the stomach was dark and 
offensive ; breath heavy ; retained hardly anything on stomach ; mouth 
and throat very red; respiration quick; complained of faintness; con- 
stantly hawking and choking • loss of voice so that he could not speak 
3 



34 LYD1A SHERMAN. 

above a whisper ; I gave him brandy and water ; Thursday, A. m., Sher- 
man was decidedly worse, and symptoms pointed to fatal termination ; 
pulse imperceptible ; extremities cold ; cold all over ; complained of 
being faint ; burning pain in pit of stomach ; these symptoms were not 
from a debauch or ordinary disease ; both Mr. and Mrs. Sherman said that 
nothing had been administered, save what was ordered — that is, thb sliDg 
and soothing drinks. Thursday morning, in reply to a question from the 
deceased, I told him that I feared he had his last sickness ; he thought 
himself that he was going to die ; I said I did not understand this intole- 
rable thirst, vomiting, and other symptoms, and asked him if he had taken 
anything; he said nothing except that which was ordered, and that his 
wife had been particular to do as directed' ; Thursday evening Dr. Kinney 
was called in consultation, and in my absence gave a recipe of compound 
mostly of sub-nitrate of bismuth ; this was administered to him that 
night, but I then expressed the opinion that nothing would save Mr. 
Sherman ; all he took that night was Dr. Kinney's prescription, brandy 
and water, and little of that ; Friday morning, 12th, at sunrise, saw him 
again; he was then apparently in a dying state; he died about eight 
o'clock A. M. ; there was a livid appearance of skin, especially under the 
eyes ; all leading symptoms which correspond to those originating from 
poisoning by arsenic ; three symptoms which I have seen present in cases 
of arsenic poison were abseTit from this case, viz., purging, delirium and 
convulsions ; between nine and ten o'clock, Friday, A. M., Dr. Kinney 
cszne over to our village, called at house where I was detained, and called 
me out ; we then had free interchange of opinion as to the cause of Sher- 
man's death ; my own opinion was that everything pointed to poisoning 
by arsenic, and I determined on a post-mortem examination with a view 
to find out contents of stomach ; I sent a note by Dr. Kinney to prisoner 
requesting, as her family physician, a post-mortem examination of her 
husband ; she readily assented to examination ; Dr. Kinney procured 
necessary legal papers, and the examination was made Saturday morning 
May 13th, about 10 A. m.; Drs. Kinney, Shelton, and myself were the only 
persons present ; body exposed externally ; no unusual appearance pre- 
sented ; integument over stomach dissected ; stomach and duodenum or 
lesser stomach removed ; the stomach proper seemed empty except of 
gas ; ligature placed about the upper orifice and also lower orifice, and 
removed from body; we then examined by holding up to light and 
manipulation, and we found places of inflammation and ulceration ; the 
etomachs then rolled up in white muslin cloth and tied ; then put them 
in large glass jar never used, the cloth and jar having been procured by 
Dr. Kinney for this purpose ; the liver had a normal appearance ; right 
and left lobes and gall removed, about half of liver ; this portion of liver 
rolled up in muslin and put in box, locked, and sent to New Haven for 
examination intestinal canals then examined ; section of transverse arch 



LYDIA SHEBMAN, 3& 

of colon was removed, opened, and internal coating showed marks ©f 
inflammation; don't remember that this removed portion was put in hot- 
tie ; brain was not examined, as all symptoms pointed to trouble in the* 
stomach, not in the heart, lungs or brain ; Mr. Sherman had " turns " on 9tb 
of December, and other times after sprees, and this sickness and vomiting,; 
were not unlike in his (Sherman's) opinion "the old turns." 

The question here arose between counsel as to the admission of Sher- 
man's statements, that he thought the sickness by which he was dying* 
was like previous cases. Court decided that prosecution could prove th?£ 
Last attack was unlike previous cases, but Sherman's statements in fe&j$ 
ence to past cases not admissible. 

Symptoms of Sherman's last sickness, in the main, were unlike pre- 
vious cases, except in nausea, vomiting, thirst ; these symptoms were: 
like those of December 9th, 1870 ; May 9th, symptoms, insatiable thirst,. 
burning throat, intense pain in pit of stomach, griping pain in bowels- 
hurried respiration ; these unlike the symptoms of December 9th ; in my 
opinion he did not die of any natural disease ; taking the symptoms fronx 
day to day from the time I saw him to his death, post-mortem examina- 
tion, and chemical analysis, I have no doubt that Sherman's death was- 
caused from poison — I think white arsenic or ratsbane ; Mrs. Sherman 
had full charge of him ; she said she could get along with him without 
other help ; she was always in the room, and apparently did what she- 
could for him; in my opinion the recurrence of symptoms after abatement 
was caused by the administration of another dose of poison. 

At the conclusion of Dr. Beardsley's testimony, which was pre longed. 
into the afternoon session, and a few minutes before four o'clock, the coun- 
sel on both sides held a consultation with each other, and then Mr. Foster 
announced that they would go no farther with the testimony for the day. 
The court excused the jury until Wednesday at 9.30 A. M., and the wit. 
nesses were also excused until that hour. 

After the jury had left the court-room, Mr. Woostcr arose and addressed 
the Court, and said that by agreement of counsel it had been agreed to 
argue before the Court the question of the admissibility of certain evir 
dence, and in order that the jury might not be affected by it, it had bees 
agreed to make the arguments in their absence. Though there was no 
question put and objections made, they should proceed as if thcrs had 
been. The testimony they proposed to introduce, and to which objection 
was expected was as follows : They proposed to prove that Nelson D 
Sherman died on the 12th of May, 1871, from arsenical poisoning, and 
then they proposed to put on the stand a witness to show that on the 25tk 
of December, 1870, Addie Sherman, a girl some fifteen years of age, & 
daughter of the deceased, was taken with symptoms identical with those 
with which Nelson II. Sherman died ; that she lingered till the 31st day 
of December, and died ; that they shoul' 1 offer to show that the symptoms 



36 LYDIA SHERMAN. 

were those of arsenical poison ; they would further offer to show that a 
chemical analysis of the intestines and stomach was made and arsenic 
found, and that it caused the death of Addie Sherman ; they would offer 
in proof that on the 16th day of November, 1870, a little more than a 
month before the death of Addie Sherman, Frankie Sherman, a boy 
some eleven or thirteen months of age, died with symptoms of arsenical 
poisoning, and that a chemical analysis made disclosed the presence of 
arsenic ; in connection with that testimony they would show that the 
rrisoner was present in the family of Nelson H. Sherman at the time of 
fcoth of these deaths, and had the sole care of Addie Sherman, substanti- 
ally the whole care of her and had part care of the infant, Frankie Sher- 
man, and that she was to have had the whole care within one week's time 
of his death, and that if he had lived she would have had the sole care of 
the child , also that she had charge of the food with which the child was 
fed and prepared a part of it ; they should oifer further to show that on 
the 20th of January, 1870, Dennis Hurlbut, the then husband of the 
prisoner, died after a sickness of four or five days, with symptoms during 
that sickness that were strongly marked with arsenical poisoning ; that 
an analysis of his stomach and parts of the body disclosed the marked 
presence of arsenic there in such a quantity as must have caused death ; 
that he was under sole control of the prisoner ; that she took care of him ; 
that he received everything from her hands ; that she was the only per- 
son present, and was where she could administer to these four persons 
that died of arsenical poisoning, and was the only living person in the 
family of Hurlbut, and that was in the family of Sherman at the time of 
these successive deaths. 

Mr. Waterous said they of course objected, and asked that in view of the 
interest in the question, two attorneys on each side be allowed to discuss 
the subject. 

The Court assented, and asked for what the testimony was offered. 

Mr. Wooster said it would be offered first to prove the criminal intent ; 
second, to show that the prisoner had arsenic under her control, and was 
acquainted with its properties ; third, to show the history of the Sherman 
family ; .fourth, because it was one of the circumstances to prove guilt 
and as part of the circumstantial evidence ; and fifth, in general, to pror« 
the guilt or innocence of the prisoner. 

The prosecution having thus declared what they intended to show 
defence proceeded to argue at length against the admissicn of certain 
dence, and to discuss the principles upon which the trial should be 
ducted. The defence endeavored to show that it was not pertine 
bring before the court testimony to prove that the persons named by 
prosecution had come to their death at the hands of Mrs. Sherman. 
Wharton trial was freely instanced by the defence. Numerous authoriu 
▼ere quoted upor both sides. Mr. Waterous closed for the defence ip % 



IjYDIA SHERMAN. 37 

speech of an hour, claiming that an unjust attempt was being made by 
prosecution to prejudice judges and jury by proving Mrs. Sherman a 
dangerous woman, and hence capable of the crime for which "she is 
charged. 

No decision was made by the Court, and at 6.45 P.M. an adjournment 
was made until Wednesday morning. 

SECOND DAY. 

Wednesday morning, April 17, at half-past nine o'clock, the court wa* 
opened, and all the witnesses were in attendance. The prisoner was soon 
after brought in by Sheriff Scott, who gave her a seat between her counsel 
at the table. She was dressed the same as on the previous day, and was 
accompanied by her brother, Danbury, her brother-in-law, Mr. Nafey, and 
Mrs. Nafey, her sister. John Struck, her son by the New York police- 
man, who is an oyster dealer in Boston, appeared in the court room, and, 
taking a seat a little in the rear of her, watched the proceedings closely. 
Judge Sandford gave his decision upon the points of law raised the day 
before, whether the evidence of the poisoning of Sherman's children and 
Hurlbut could be admitted, and it was adverse to the claims of the State. 

Dr. Ambrose Beardsley, family physician, recalled. — In my testimony 
yesterday, where I spoke of the constriction of the throat, I meant to say 
it produced a whisper, or, in other words, he lost his voice ; this was on 
Wednesday evening : he constantly complained of it and appeared to be 
choking. 

Q. Did he take' anything other than sling by way of nourishment? 
A. He took tea, bread, water, and thin gruel ; the effect on the stomach 
was very bland. 

Q. In any of these, if arsenic were mixed, would it be perceived by 
the patient? A, It would not in an ordinary poisonous dose. 

Q. Was Sherman able to sit up at any time after you called? A. He 
was not; he was prostrated from the first*, I did not see him out of a 
recumbent position ; he may have had attempted to sit up. 

Q. What was he physically ? A. A man of fine physique and endur- 
ing constitution, very little impaired by his habits, and should say * 
strong muscular man 

Q How old 7 A. About forty-five or forty-six ; I cannot tell exactly^ 

Q What was the condition of his mind during his illness ? A. During, 
the whole of it, remarkably clear and collected ; I could not see that it 
wandered at any time, not even in a state of dissolution. 

Q. What were his habits ? A. He used to have spells of drinking to 
excess in the last few years; except his drinking, I know of nothing to 
effect his constitution. 

Q. How frequent were the spells ? A. Not often, to my knowledge ; 
be wo'Ud go for months without it. 



3§ LYDIA SHERMAN 

Q. What were his spirits — desponding? A. Eather jovial; I neve* 
jsaw him despondent except when under the influence of liquor. 

Q. How did despondency manifest itself? A. By being embarrassed, 
mud in financial matters, I believe. 

CROSS-EXAMINED BY MR. WATEROUS. 

Q. By his embarassed condition? A. Yes; he talked about it & 
Igreat deal. 

Q. You were sent for to go there on Tuesday — by whom? A. I think 
Ms son came after me ; the order was on the slate ; I was told that Sher- 
man's son was looking for me, as his father was very sick. 

Q. You were met by Mrs. Sherman ? A. Yes. 

Q. She appeared gratified at your coming ? A. Yes ; we had a talk 
'together; don't recollect whether Hubbard was there or not; my im- 
pression is, he was not ; it was at the time of the first visit I saw the con- 
sents of the stomach, in a bowl ; it was on a chair between the bed and 
the wall ; think my attention was not called to the contents ; Mrs. Sher- 
man said he had been vomiting nearly all night. 

Q. Did she say she had saved it to let you see the horrible stuff that 
«same off his stomach ? A. She may have said so, but I do not recollect 
it; it was not horrible stuff; it was healthy bile more than vitiated bile; 
>&he may have said she had saved the bile ; I think she did, but I will 
-not be positive. 

Q. How long had it been off his stomach ? A. He had just finished 
vomiting as I entered, I was told. 

Q. Was there another time when your attention was called to the 
character of the vomiting by Mrs. Sherman or some one else ? A. I don't 
srooolleet. 

Q. Mrs. Sherman may have done so? A. She may have done so. 

Q. You testified in this case before the magistrate in Birmingham ? 
M.. I did. 

Q. Did you there attempt to give a history of his sickness and what 
^passed during it ? A. I did. 

Q. When, after your first visit to the bedside, you had an interview 
with her and asked why she gave him money to go on the sprees, what 
did she say ? A. " I have already had trouble ; he has spent from $1200 
to $1500 of my money ; I have tried but can't control him." 

Q. Did you state that before the magistrate? A. I did not 

Q. How long after his death did you testify before the magistrate ? 
'Was it a little less than two months ? A. Yes. 

Q. How long is it now since his death ? A. Nearly a year ; he died 
May 12 of last year. 

Q. Did you tell Mrs. Sherman that you were going to tell him he could 
■aoi have manv mor« without being taken off? A. I have some faint 



a 



u 




LYD1A SHEIiMAN. 41 

Tec* iction of something of the kind ; I intimated to her that I would 
speak to Sherman before he recovered ; wo very often tell people that 
they will be taken off when we do not mean it ; his habits were bad ; I 
do not recollect that I made her a promise to talk with him on the 
subject. 

Q. Did she not say at that interview that he had not been on that spree 
with her money ? A. No ; I do not recollect that such declaration wag 
made by her. 

Q. You were there daily during his illness ? A. Yes ; sometimes twice 
a day ; I promised her Tuesday at two o'clock p.m., I would return early 
in the evening of that day, but did not get around early, although some- 
body came for me. 

Q. Mrs. Sherman was attentive and devoted to his welfare, was she 
not ? A. As far as I could see, she was. 

Q. Did you prescribe tea, bread, water and gruel 7 A. She asked me 
if a little tea would hurt him ; I ordered bread, water and gruel, and 
either prescribed or concurred in the use of tea. 

Q. You first prescribed morphine and blue pill ? A. Yes. 

Q. What else during his illness? A. A weak solution of ipecac with 
»n aromatic to allay purging ; the purgative pill was mostly aloes and 
rhubarb and one grain of the extract of mandrake; the blue pill is 
mostly mercury, it is a mild form of mercury ; don't recollect the exact 
ingredients. 

Q. What quantity of arsenic is suflicient to produce death ? A. From 
three to five grains ; there are instances where two and a half grains* 
caused death. 

Q. What was the composition of the morphine ? A. It is the essence 
of opium ; I gave him also blue mass. 

Q. What is blue mass ? A. It is blue pill. 

Q. These are all you prescribed — morphine, blue pill, ipecacuanha^ 
slings, bread, water and tea ? A. Yes, sir. 

Q. Arsenic is not a cumulative poison, is it? A. In some cases it is, 

Q. If a person took a quantity one week, insufficient to produce death, 
another dose a week later, do you say it would produce death? A. I d 
not; arsenic, if rubbed upon the surface of the body, will find its way t 
the liver and stomach ; it will also find its way there if inhaled in the ai 

Q. Are there not cases of poisoning caused by persons sleeping in 
rooms papered with green paper ? A. There are cases where they have 
been affected, but not killed. 

Q. Have persons not been poisoned from eating colored confectionery ? 
A. I am not aware of cases. 

Q. Does arsenic enter into the coloring of confectionery and toys ? 
A. Yes. 

Q What di you mean when you asked Sherman if he had not bees 



42 LYDIA SHERMAN. 

taking something? A. I wanted to get at the cause ; Thursday morning 
I had my suspicions that he might have swallowed something deleterious 
and destructive to life. 

Prisoner here prompted counsel. 

Q. Y ou say there was a lull on Thursday morning in the symptoms ; 

id you attribute it to the medicine ? A. I did— at least I hoped it had. 

r / Q. Is it not common in cases of arsenical poison that the symptoms 

fuctuate — that they are more severe at one time than another ? A. Yes. 

Q. So that it is not necessary to repeat the doses to cause these fluc- 
tuations ? A. It is not necessary to repeat them. 

Q. Where was the body from death until Saturday when the post- 
mortem was held? A, It was in the front room where he died; after 
that I do not know where it was or in whose charge ; I took no part in 
making the incisions ; but I assisted in tying it and packing it. 

Q. Did you examine the cloth (wrapper) around the stomach to see if 
there was anything on it ? A. I did not ; but had there been I would 
have observed it ; I first saw the wrapper in the room ; Dr. Kinney 
brought the cloth there, I understood. 

Q. Did you examine the jar in which the stomach was put, with a view 
to see if it was clean ? A. I did. 

Q. "With a view of seeing if it was clean ? A. Yes. 

Q. Was there a tinge of green in the jar ? A. I don't recollect ; I 
think it was not. 

Q. Did you see the jar washed ? A. No. 

Q. And you never had the custody of it ? A. No, sir. 

Witness was here cross-examined at length as to how the liver wns 
packed after its removal from the body. 

Q. Had you the custody of the box at any time ? A. No, sir ; not 
after I left the room ; what became of it after Dr. Kinney took it away 
I know not 

TESTIMONY OF HORATIO SHERMAN. 

Horatio N.Sherman sworn. — I am twenty-one years old; reside in 
Boonton, N. J.; have lived there since the 25th of last May, and pre- 
viously lived in Birmingham; I am a son of Nelson II. Sherman; I re- 
Bided with my father in Birmingham up to the time of his death; my 
father, brother, sister, myself and prisoner and the servant girl were the 
occupants of the house ; father was taken sick on Monday evening before 
his death ; he left home on Wednesday, the second week previous, and 
did not return until Friday of the week before that on which he died, so 
he was absent one week and two days; while father was in New Haven 
I did not know where he was ; on the day he returned I told the prisoner 
I thought I had better look for father ; sh^ said it was useless, as. I might 



LYDIA SHERMAN." 4S 

not find him when I got to New Haven; I had to urge her several times 
before she would give me the money to come to New Haven ; she finally 
gave me the money, and I came down on the 9.15 train ; came to the 
Park House to find him ; did not find him ; proceeded to the depot ; 
stood there some time, as it was raining ; walked toward the west end 
§f the depot, and while looking out of the door he and another gentle- 
man came along ; I took him one side and asked where he had been ; I 
talked around with him till half-past four or five P.M.; went to the Park 
House leaving the horse and carriage at the depot ; he had a horse and 
wagon here all the time he was in the city ; we went home in the evening, 
arriving at the Union House, Derby, about ten minutes after seven ; he 
got out of the wagon and entered the hotel ; he refused to go home with 
me right away ; I left him and started for home ; he took dinner with me 
on the day of his return, in this city ; he was perfectly sober on that day ; 
when I arrived home I asked the prisoner if he had been home ; she said 
he came about nine o'clock that night, or an hour before I arrived ; I had 
been home to supper after leaving father, and had gone out and remained 
down town until about ten ; when I returned home the prisoner told me 
he was in bed; father remained in the house on Saturday, and did not 
go to his work during the day ; I think I saw him at his meals on that 
day, but am not positive ; he seemed to have as good an appetite as usual 
on Friday; on Sunday he remained home until after three P.M., when we 
dined; I saw nothing unusual in his manner that day; on Monday he 
was at work ; his business was a tack-maker (tending machines and keep- 
ing the machines in repair); he was in the employ of E. L. Shelton, 
where he had been for twenty years ; on Monday he was hanging a grind- 
stone for the purpose of grinding his tools, there was nothing unusual in 
his manner that day ; I took breakfast on Monday morning before he 
got up ; went down to the factory, and he came down afterwards ; «he 
machines not being running I left the factory, went up town and returned 
to the factory about eleven o'clock ; he asked me to go up and tell Lydia 
(the prisoner) to send down his dinner; went to the house and told 
prisoner that father wanted his dinner sent down ; I ate my dinner, and 
she and I prepared his dinner ; 1 took up the shad and handed it to her, 
and she prepared the rest of the meal, which was put in a small basket , 
I took the dinner to the factory; left it with him; on returning he said 
h had eaten all but two or three crullers ; that he would eat by and bye; 
1 remained about the village till supper time ; partook of supper and 
went out without seeing him, as he was not yet home ; at that time, 
prisoner, my brother, and the girl were present ; don't know who pro 
posed the supper ; next saw him about half-past seven thAi evening at 
the drug store, on the corner, where there was an outdevr auction ; he 
was reclining against the box of a tree ; he turned around fsA left, and 
f spw nothing of him until I got home, about nine o'clocL u rhs evening; 



44 LYDIA SHEEMAN. 

I inquired of prisoner if he was in, and she told me he was sick, that he 
had been vomiting ; I went to the door and spoke to him, and he also 
told me he had been vomiting ; I said no more, but went to bed ; next 
morning (Tuesday) he requested me to go for the doctor ; this was be- 
tween seven and eight ; I went for Dr. Beardsley, who was aosent, but I 
found him at the drug store, and told him my father wanted him to coma 
to the house ; I did not return until dinner time ; I then inquired how 
he felt, and he replied " very bad ; " I then returned down street, and did 
not go home until supper time ; that evening and also the next morning 
I spoke to him, and on Wednesday I stayed very close at home ; I asked 
from time to time how he felt ; on Thursday I was at home and remained 
in the sitting room with his mother (Mrs. Sherman), and the prisoner 
(Lydia) told me he had had a spasm ; they both requested me to go after 
Dr. Beardsley ; he was not in ; I returned and told both women that he 
had left ; old Mrs. Sherman requested me to call Dr. Kinney as soon as 
possible ; I found him absent and returned and reported to them that I 
had left orders for him (Kinney) to come the moment he came back. Dr. 
Kinney came about dusk to the house ; think Beardsley had been there 
before ; the prisoner and servant were there in the kitchen ; old Mrs. 
Sherman asked Dr. Kinney the cause of his sickness, and he replied that 
he was a very sick man, but I do not remember that he stated the cause 
of the illness ; Friday morning, he died. 

Q. Who had the care of him ? A. The prisoner had sole care of him 
in that sickness until Thursday noon, when Mrs. Sherman, his mother 
arrived. 

Q. And after that, who ? A. They both assisted in his care. 

Q. Did your grandmother prepare anything for him ? A. Not to my 
knowledge. 

A recess was then taken until two o'clock. 

CROSS-EXAMINATION. 

At the cross-examination of young Sherman, he testified that his father's 
spasms were very unusual, and that he had never had any before; his 
father did not sleep with his mother, owing to some trouble ; witness 
did not know when they were married. 

DR. KINNEY'S STATEMENT. 

Dr. Kinney was next called. He attended the deceased on Thursday night ; 
found him suffering with all the symptoms of arsenical poisoning ; there 
were vomiting, purging, peculiar breathing and huskiness of voice ; made 
up his mind that deceased had taken poison ; gave a prescription of sub- 
nitrate of bismuth, to allay pain ; thought there should be a post-mortem 
examination Mrs. Sherman consented ; she did not know that he took 



LYDIA SHERMAN. 45 

out the liver and stomach and took them to New Haven ; he told her that 
the post-mortem showed inflammation of the stomach. 

Dr. Kinney's evidence was substantially the same as Dr. Beardsley's. 

TESTIMONY OF DR. KINNEY. 

Reside in Derby ; have been a practising physician nineteen years 
.esided half a mile from Sherman ; had known him eighteen or nineteen 
years ; I saw Sherman first on the 11th of May, the night before he died; 
found him very sick ; learned also that Dr. Beardsley had attended him 
for two or three days ; requested that the doctor might be sent for ; h u,- 
ceeded to examine the case. He was suffering from intense thirst, con 
stant nausea, pain in the region of the stomach, with occasionally a ten- 
dency to go to stool ; the vital parts appeared very much depressed ; the 
extremities were cold ; he had difficult and peculiar respiration ; could 
detect no pulse at the wrist ; asked him how long he had been sick, and 
he told me since the previous Monday ; learned from him that he had 
worked as usual, and that after supper he was taken with pains in the 
head and vomiting. T understood that those symptoms had continued up 
to the time I saw him, except the headache ; the vomiting, nausea and 
purging had continued ; the purging had been slight ; that there had 
been no copious discharges, it was more of a disposition to go to stool ; 
inquired particularly of Mr. Sherman if he had enjoyed his usual health 
up to the time he came home to supper, and he said he had ; I was una- 
ble to account for his symptoms, except on the supposition that he had 
received some irritable poison ; he had the symptoms of no disease with 
which I was familar ; the friends asked me what his disease was ; Mrs. 
Sherman and Mrs. Hubbard asked me, more particularly Mrs. Hubbard. 
I declined to give an opinion, saying that I wished to consult with Dr. 
Beardsley before giving an opinion ; went round to the doctor's house ; 
think I went twice and did not find him ; was anxious to find him to consult 
with regard to the fact of the poisoning ; went baclr to Sherman's after 
going to find Dr. Beardsley ; was there something Ake an hour ; was satis- 
fied that nothing could be done to save the man's life ; left a simple pre- 
scription to allay the pain in the stomach and alleviate the man's suffer- 
ings ; then returned home and saw nothing mo ^ the case ; questioned 
Mr. Sherman as to his condition previous to his , °<he ; asked him if 
he was perfectly well and if he had been drinkiu^ "* away ; he said 

he had drunk some but not excessively ; asked hiin v ds appetite was 
good; said it was; asked if his stomach had been dtr^ , d, and he said 
it had not; asked if he had bilious trouble, and ho - he had not; 
could not find but that he had been in perfect health up » the time of 
the attack ; inquired of the prisoner about his health ; she mentioned 
that he had been on a debauch and that she expected it would kill him ; 
Sherman's voice was husky and he could hardly speak above a whisper ; 



46 LYD1A SHERMAN. 

it was a peculiar voice, and I hardly know how to describe it ; he com- 
plained of sore throat and intense burning in the throat ; the respiration 
was irregular, accompanied by constant sighing ; could not say what his 
supper was ; he did not tell me what his treatment had been-; she told 
me Dr. Beardsley gave him medicine, but did not state what it was ; she 
said she had given him brandy and water and some tea ; my opinion at 
the time was that he was dying from arsenic ; could not explain his symp- 
toms by any known disease ; I found Dr. Beardsley the next morning, 
and it was agreed to hold a post-mortem ; the result was I went over and 
saw Dr. Shelton ; after we arrived at the house, Dr. Shelton, Beardsley 
and I, we found the body laid out in the parlor; we exposed it; there 
was nothing peculiar about its appearance ; I made an application to the 
prisoner to make a post-mortem and said the case was peculiar ; she made 
no objection ; she said it was peculiar and she would like to have it done, 
[Witness testified about taking out .he stomach and liver and putting 
them in a cloth and then in a jar and box.] Took the box to Dr. Barker's 
at his office in New Haven ; the prisoner was not aware that we took 
away a part of the body ; the cloth was new and clean ; the jar was a new 
glass jar that never had been used ; the box was a wooden one about six- 
teen inches long, twelve inches wide, and eight high, and furnished with 
a lock and key; think it was clean; after taking out the parts of the 
body I drove directly to New Haven and gave to Professor Barker, who 
removed them from the box while I was there. 

Cross-examined by Waterous : Mrs. Sherman asked what we found, 
and I replied not much but inflammation of the stomach ; she asked me 
if it was the result of drink, and I said perhaps so ; I intended to evade 
the question ; dout recollect that I said the inflammation might have 
oeen caused by a cold. [Witness was questioned about the details of the 
post-mortem, the counsel acting somewhat pettishly.] The box had not 
had medicine in it for f'.ur years; it had been standing in my garret. 
[Witness detailed how he found the box and what he did with it, and 
about leaving it in Professor Barker's office and waiting for the Professor.] 
I unlocked the box and gave the contents to Professor Barker and brought 
the box away. 

Q. What symptoms did you observe in Sherman on Thursday that you 
never had seen in a sick person before ? A. The respiration ; it wa 
peculiar ; had never seen such before ; it had a tendency to syncope ; haa 
geen irregular respiration before, and sinking before, but not such pecu- 
liar irregularity ; cannot describe it ; it was the difference and the combi- 
nation of symptoms. [Counsel objected to a reference to the combilned 
symptoms, and desired to speak of each by itself.] There was no diffe- 
rence in cases seen before ; there was more sighing than I had seen be- 
fore ; it was very variable ; cannot describe the peculiarity of the in&s- 
ner of the sighing. 



LYDIA SHERMAN. 4$ 

Q. "What other symptoms did you observe that you had not seen in 
other eases? A. It was not one symptom but the combination of 
eymptoms. 

Waterous. — I don't want you to argue the case ; I don't inquire about 
the combination of symptoms. 

Di . Kinney. — Excuse me, sir. I did not know I was arguing the case. 

Witness. — Purging is one of the symptoms of poisoning, also vomit- 
ing; never had a case of arsenical poisoning in my practice before; as I 
understood the case from the attendant there had been a disposition to go 
to stool and a little evacuation ; he told me this, also Mrs. Sherman. ]f 
there was no purging, then there would have been one of the symptoms 
absent upon which is based the opinion that the case was one of poison 
ing. If there had been no purging I should still have been of the opin« 
ion that there had been arsenical poisoning. [Witness recited the symp- 
toms that would give rise to this opinion in this case if purging had been 
absent. lie also indicated how the symptoms differed from those he had 
ever seen before.] The prescription I gave was subnitrate of bismuth, 
hydrocyanic acid and mucilage ; some English bismuth has arsenic in it* 
did not see the prescription rc^self. 

The court then ajourned to 9.10 A. M. on Thursday. 

THIED DAY. 

On Thursday, April 18th, the trial was reopened. Dr. Gould A. Shot- 
ton gave testimony touching the poisonous qualities of bismuth. Mrs. 
Sherman, mother of the deceased was called. The witness was a bright- 
looking old lady, ready to tell her story faster than lawyers or judges 
could take it down. She made some very sharp replies, which tended to 
relieve the monotony of the examination. She was anxious to express 
her opinions, as well as what she saw and heard, and evidently entertained 
very decided views in reference to the matter. She testified : I was 
only at the house of the prisoner at the funeral of my grand-daughter 
Addie, in January, 1871, and at the sickness of my son ; I first saw the 
prisoner at the funeral of my grand- daughter ; she then told me that if 
things did not go on differently she should leave my son, as she had 
money and friends ; she made this remark without provocation on my 
part; 1 did not see the accused or my son until about 11.30 A. M. the day 
before he died ; he was very glad to see me, and the relations between 
himself and wife appeared friendly ; he was much distressed in stomach, 
and his throat smarted badly; his voice was very husky; the prisoner 
gave him all of the medicines. 

Q. What were the medicines ? A. I knew nothing about them, and 
was not told ; I knew the doctor ordered some brandy for him, and that 
be had it, bvt did not give it to him; heard that the doctor ordered the 



50 LYDIA SHEKMAN. 

brandy ; thought there was a very peculiar effect upon him after drink- 
ing a cup of tea. 

Q. What was the peculiar effect of the tea ? A. lie put his hand on 
his stomach, and said, "O my God, my stomach," and fainted away ; he 
said " Fanny." 

Q. You speak of fainting* did he faint entirely away ? A. lie did f 
and when he came to, he said, " I never expected to see you, my dear ; " 
and I said the same, and then I made the remark — 

Waterous. — Was Mrs. Sherman there? A. Yes she was there; I 
made the remark that it was strange that the tea should make hi 
stomach smart so after taking brandy ; I thought it was a very strange 
sensation. 

Q. Was there any reply made to that, ma'am ? A. I don't remember 
that there was ; had not seen him take brandy before he took tea, that I 
remember. 

Q. How did you know that brandy did not have such an efieet ? A, 
Because Mrs. Sherman said she had given him brandy, and there was no 
such spells. 

Q. What time did your son die ? A. I think it was a little before 
eight o'clock, Friday morning. 

Q. Who took care of him that night? A. The prisoner did. 

Q. If anything occurred after your arrival there about money between 
yourself, the prisoner and Nellie, you will please state it ? A. I was in 
the room with my son alone, standing by his bedside ; he said to me, 
*• Mother, hand me my wallet in my pants 7 pocket," and I did so ; and I 
had some trouble in getting it, because the pants were so high ; and just 
as I got it, I heard the prisoner's step on the stairs in the basement, and 
I knew by the way he asked, for it, that he did not want her to know of it. 

Q. State what first took place? A. He looked around the room and 
said, " Where is my wife ? " I said, " She is in the basement." 

Q. That is the first he said ? A. That is the first. 

Q. What then ? A. He said, " Hand me my pocketbook, mother, in 
my pants' pocket." 

Q. What did you do? A. I threw it into his bed, and he put it under 
his pillow. 

Wooster. — Well, you skip a portion. A. Well, I am telling the truth, 
aint I ? 

Q. Now then, what was the next step you took? A. I took it and 
threw it to him, and he put it under his pillow. 

Q. How did you get it ? A. I had to go to the foot of the bed, and 
pull away a portable sink, which made a considerable noise and trouble, 
and I succeeded in getting the pocketbook, and threw it to him. 

Q. Why did you throw it ? A. Because I heard the prisoner on the 
«tairs and I knew by the way he asked for it he did not want her to 



LYDIA SHEKMAN. 

know ; the pants were at the foot of the bed where my son lay ; on & 
hook i <n the wall ; had to remove the sink because there was not room. 

Q. Did the prisoner immediately come into the room ? A. She did. 

Q. What did your son do with the pockctbook while she was there, 01: 
befoK he came in ? A. He put it under the pillow before she came in^ 

Q. IL-w near was she in? A. Pretty near; he had just time to gefc 
Sack to his pillow' before she got in. 

Q. Was there anything said after she came in ? A. My son asked fojr 
a knife. 

Q. What did the prisoner say? A. Don't recollect that she said any- 
thing ; the knife was not there ; I was standing at the foot of the bed r 
near where the pantaloons were; I examined the pantaloons for th^ 
knife ; nothing further was said about the knife ; told him there was &. 
key there, and he said, " Hand me my keys ; " she did not remain a great 
while — not half an hour. 

Q. What followed after she left the room? A. As soon as he-dis*: 
covered she was gone, he said, " Mother, take this money, and give it to* 
Nellie (Nelson), and tell him to take it, and make good use of it;" I said,'. 
" I will." 

Q. If he said more, state it. A. A short time after, I had an oppor- 
tunity to give it to the boy, and I said to him, " Tell your father that yom 
have received this package of money, and it will be all right ; " I was hs 
the room with my son a while afterward, and I told him I had givem 
Nellie the money, and he said, very well. 

Q. What followed in reference to that money after death? A. The 
•next day after the death, on Saturday, the prisoner was in the sitting- 
room and she said, " Mother, you have that money of Nelson's," and 1 
replied, "No, I have not." She asked me about it, and I told her I gave 
it to the boy, and she said it was very strange ; for Nelson had told her 
she should have it. She said that he gave it to me to give to her; I told: 
her I might be mistaken, but I did not think I could be any way ; she 
seemed rather surly toward me for some reason or other. 

Q. What else to@k place in reference to the money? A. Nothings 
more took place between her and me, except that she called for the 
money of the boy, and I advised him to give it to her rather than have 
trouble, I saw was ahead; she said she thought she -ought to have ifc\ 
He did not say much of anything. She said she needed it very mucb 
indeed to pay her bills, and that she had no money short of Bridgeport; 
I told him to have nothing to do with it if he wished to give it up; he- 
told her that he needed it very much indeed ; she looked it over, an# 
gave him five dollars. He said that there was a number of articles that 
he needed ; don't know how much money there was, but my grandson 
told me there was §105. He gave her the pocketbook with the money, 
Was sitting on the day of ny son's death in the sitting-room with tb# 
prisoner wheD — 



52 LfDIA SHEBMAN. 

Mr. Waterous interrupting, said the testimony from the ruling up xa 
this point came in under the exception taken. It was all objected to. 

"Witness: The prisoner said to me, "I had about made up my mind to 
leave Nellie, but as things have turned out I am very glad t did not." 
I remarked to her, that I was very glad she did not ; there was no con- 
versation to me when the subject of divorce was alluded to ; there was no 
other conversation, except one before he died. I made the remark, 
*' the room was very damp, I would not have thought you would havo 
^ept here," and she said, " Oh, I haven't slept here for several weeks. 
Kelson and Nattie slept here." 

Mrs. Lydia Sherman resumed under cross-examination : Mrs. Sherman 
soon went down stairs after she came up ; don't know that she made any 
errand up. 

Q. How long after she went down the second time was it before sho 
returned ? A. About twenty-five minutes or half an hour ; do not know 
that she brought a mustard plaster when she did return. 

Q. Did Nelson speak of her in connection with that money ? A. lie 
asked where prisoner was, and said, " give me my wallet ; " he said 
nothing more that I recollect; Nellie was not in when Mrs. Sherman 
spoke to me about the money on Saturday ; it was some time in the 
course of the forenoon ; he soon came in after that ; I said something to 
him about the money, and he handed it over ; I advised him to give it 
to her. 

Q. Had he the money on his person at that time? A. Yes, sir, I 
think he had. 

Q. Did he not say, " It is up stairs, I will go up and get it ? " A. 1 
cannot say. It had been in a box up stairs, and he had showed it to me ; 
I do not know whether he had it on his person or not, or whether he 
went up stairs after it; don't remember; it was in the pocketbook when 
he showed it to me up stairs. 

Q. Did he not go up stairs, and get the bills and bring them down, 
and lay them on the table ? A. There were only two bills. 

Q. Did he not bring them down and lay them on the table ? A. I 
think he did. 

Cross-examined by Waterous : Came to Birmingham on that Thursday 
in response to a telegram ; it was signed by his son. 

Q. When you arrived you met the prisoner first? A. Of course, I 
met her first. 

Q. Do you remember after the greetings were over of telling her of a 
remark you made to your son in Brooklyn, before you left ? A. I do 
not ; please repeat it. "Waterous : This in substance. I said to my son 
on receiving the dispatch, " I know that Nelson will not get well, for he 
has had several of these spells, and one of them will take him oiE" I 
fcbink that is nearlv it 



LYDIA SHERMAN. 13 

A. I think I did ; was present when something was said about who 
should have the f iture care of Nattie ; could not have been more than a 
half an hour before my son died ; Mr. Hubbard was present, who lives in 
the upper part of the house, the second time it was repeated. 

Q. To whose custody did he commit the care of the boy Nattie in your 
presence ? A. To the care of the prisoner. 

Q. Do you remember what he said ? A. I do ; he said, " I want yoa 
to promise before God and man that yoa will protect this dear boy cf 
mine/' and she said, " I will ; " he repeated it twice over, at my request-, 
the second time Mr. Hubbard was present; I called him in from an 
•djoining room to hear it repeated. 

Q. Had your son Nelson any property at that time, except the $105 ? 
A. I could not tell you ; I don't know anything about it. 

Q. Why did you request Nelson to repeat the injunction to his wifef? 
A. Because 1 wanted another witness. 

Q. That was about the last act of his life, was it ? A. Yes, sir. 

Q. "Was his mind clear then ? A. Very. 

Q. Do you know what Mrs. Sherman was doing in the kitchen when 
you got the pocket-book ? A. No, sir ; she made no inquiry about the 
noise I made. 

Q. Did you then inquire of him what he had done with the other seven 
bills ? A. I don't think I did. He said he had counted the bills, and 
said he thought his father must have been mistaken, as there was 
but $105. 

Q. I understand that Nelson drank some tea and immediately fainted 7 
A. Yes sir ; he did. 

Q. What was done with the tea left in the cup ? A. I do not know 
anything about it. 

Q. Do you not know that the cup was placed on a chair ? A. No, sir ; 
I do not. Nothing was said about its being hot. 

Q. Did not this occur ; when he took a swallow and began to be faint, 
did not his wife put the tea down on a chair, and after he came to, diC 
not Mrs. Sherman say, " What is the matter, Nelson, is it too hot ? " and 
then taste it and say, " No, it is not ? " A. Do not recollect any such 
remarks. 

Q. You will not swear that she did not taste of it at that time ? A. 
No, sir ; I will not. I was in the room when he took the tea, standing 
near him ; was not as near to him as his wife was ; did not see the tea 
administered to him at any other time ; saw medicine given to him, but 
did not know what it was. 

Q. When was it you saw him faint after taking tea? A. It was at 
that time when I saw him take the tea, and he said, "0 my God, my 
stomach ! how it smarts I " 

Q. I suppose you ^'ill go on till you find a place to stop. Now, then, 



m LYDIA SHEBMAN. 

when was it ? A. It was Friday morning, between seven and eight o'clock ; 
•lie died about eight; did not sit up with him that night; Mr. Hubbard 
was there at the request of my son ; I arose between six and seven. 

Q. Did you hear Nelson when he said that morning in the presence of 
his wife and Mj\ Hubbard, and perhaps Mrs. Hubbard, " Why don't I 
die ? I ought to ? " A. No, sir ; never heard any such expression. 

Ellen Harrington was called and testified that she lived at the Sher- 
loians' at the time Mr. Sherman died ; had lived there a number of months 
previously and lived there until three weeks after Sherman's death ; was 
away in Ansonia the day Mr. Sherman was taken sick ; returned after 
supper ; did not assist in getting supper ; I might have helped cook the 
dinner that da}', but don't recollect. 

Cross-examined : Think the prisoner and Mr. Sherman treated each 
mother kindly. 

George H. Peck was then called : 

I have been druggist at Birmingham for eight yeais ; I think the 
^prisoner has been to my store to buy arsenic ; cannot fix the time defi- 
nitely, but it was in the warm spring days of 1871, perhaps several weeks 
- before the sickness ; I do not generally weigh it, as I dislike to put it in 
the scales ; I poured out three-quarters or one ounce, tied it up and gave 
It to her; I remember the time, not exactly, but it was after the warm 
days had come, and the store doors were open ; when Sherman's death 
occurred I remembered that but a little before I had sold it to his wife ; 
at was fixed in my mind by calling upon her at her request at her house; 
my memory was refreshed as to the sale of the arsenic to her by this 
call; I think Nattie, the little boy, a bright child was with her, when she 
■ purchased it ; she remarked in purchasing arsenic that they were over- 
run with rats, and she inquired what was best to kill them ; I mentioned 
aver exterminators, and may have suggested that arsenic was as good as 
others and cheaper ; I think she may have said that she did not like to 
£bave it around ; I do not remember whether I gave her any instructions, 
ij&t often do ; Mrs. Sherman sent for me the last day of the examination ; 
&£ went to her house, not having been informed what she wished to say tc 
:me; she admitted, without objection, that she had purchased arsenic; at 
smy visit to her house she recalled purchase of arsenic and circum- 
stances as above stated ; I think I told Mrs. Sherman before going to her 
Jaouse that I did remember the purchase, but she recalled it to my mind 
at the house. 

Professor George F. Barker was the last witness. He testified to the 
.examination of the liver and stomach, as given at the head of the report, 
Inding 0*485 grain of white arsenic in six and two-third ounces of } v«r 
— -equal to five grains for the whole liver. 




iillllpi 



LYDIA SHERMAN. 57 



FOTJK.TH DAY. 



The fourth day (Friday, April 19th) of the trial of Mrs. Sherman was 
mostly devoted to an investigation into the results of the chemical analy- 
sis of a part of the body of the deceased, and was specially interesting bo 
gentlemen interested in ihe sciences, as well as others. Professor Barke 
was on the stand nearly all day, and seems to have about exhausted tie 
scientific questions in the case. There was present during the day a 
large audience, crowding the court-room full both within and without 
the bar. 

Many ladies were present. As the case proceeded, the public interest 
appeared to be largely increased, and the trial became the leading theme 
of conversation. 

In the course of his examination, Professor Barker went into an expla- 
nation of the nature of sulphide and oxide of arsenic, and how metallic 
arsenic is obtained. We append some very interesting portions of his 
testimony. 

HOW POISONS ACT. 

Q. Is metallic arsenic poisonous ? A. There is yet a question to be 
settled whether metallic arsenic is poisonous ; the general principle is, 
that no metal in itself is poisonous ; yellow and white arsenic are both 
poisonous ; the white arsenic is more poisonous than the yellow. 

Q. Have you any means of telling the quantity of arsenic in the 
stomach you analysed? A. The tissue of the stomach contained no 
%rsenic : the contents contained an amount which, though I did not weigh 
it, I estimated — 

Mr. Waterous stopped the witness, and objected to a guess. Objection 
overruled. 

Witness gave the grounds for his estimate, and said : Judging from 
the bulk obtained from the stomach, the quantity present must have been 
about a tenth of a grain. 

Q. Will you tell how long it takes arsenic to find its way to the liver 

Witness said : White arsenic taken into the stomach is remove- 
therefrom by absorption, and as it has not been detected in either tl 
lymph or the chyle, therefore this absorption must take place by the 
blood. It has been detected in the urine within one hour after it had 
been taken. The liver acquires its maximum quantity, in the opinion of 
several authorities, in from fifteen to eighteen hours after administration. 

Q. Does it pass off from the liver, or does it remain after once there ? 
A. It is eliminated from the liver, and may entirely disappear in from eight 
to fifteen days after being taken, depending on the quantity and other 
eircumstancesf, 



58 LYDIA SHEBMAN. 

Q. What is the maximum quantity the liver will contain in an adult f 
A. I have no opinion on that subject. I think the maximum quantity 
the liver may contain is the quantity I found in this present case. 

Q. From the quantity found in the liver how long must it have beea 
taken before death ? A. I believe at least fifteen hours ; how much 
: onger I cannot say. 

\ Q. From your examination do you think that more was given than 
you found, supposing the arsenic to have been administered five days 
before death ? 

A. If there was vomiting or purging, portions of arsenic taken Mon- 
day night would have been removed before death on Friday. Of the 
quantity absorbed a considerable portion might have been eliminated 
during the five days by the kidneys. However, arsenic is distributed 
through the entire body, and the analysis of a single organ or two docs 
not discover the arsenic elsewhere contained. For both of these reasons 
the amoun 1 obtained cannot have been the whole amount taken, and it 
must be less. When arsenic is taken more rapidly than it is absorbed or 
eliminated,, then it may be considered accumulation in the same sense as 
apple pie if taken faster than it is secreted-; if by cumulative is meant 
a substance which enters into a combination with other tissues, so far as 
i,o form a compound less readily removed than the original substance, 
then arsenic is not a cumulative poison. The arsenic found in the stomach, 
may have been, in my opinion, either the last traces of a very large quan- 
tity taken on Monday nighc, or the residue of a smaller quantity taken 
subsequently, which I cannot tell, but the latter appears to me the more 
probable. The first effect of arsenic is local ; it is classified as an irri- 
tant and not a corrosive poison ; that is, it inflames the parts without 
destroying them 01 perforating them. The local effects first produced 
cause local symptoms ; these appear generally within an hour after the 
poison has been swallowed ; they are burning pains in the stomach which, 
as the poison passes down, extends along the intestinal track ; it increases 
in severity, is accompanied by a great thirst, dryness and constriction of 
the throat, vomiting and purging ; by this time more or less of the poi- 
son has become absorbed ; it enters the blood and produces a second class 
of symptoms called remote, the action being apparent upon the blood 
corpuscles and blood vessels. These symptoms are characterized by 
great prostration of strength, anxiety and depression of mind, a peculiar 
lividity of the face, the blue line under the eye, the intellect being as yet 
unaffected and the mind clear. Death may ensue at this stage on the 
action due to prostration ; usually taking place under these circumstances 
from one to eight days. If life be continued, the effect of arsenic will be 
apparent upon the nervous system and brain, stupor passing into pro- 
found coma will develop itself, in case the action is primarily upon the 
£>ram* or delHum and convulsions, passing into chronic spasms, in case 



LYD1A SIIERMAN. 59 

the spinal cord is also involved, may precede death ; ah of these symp- 
toms may not be present. The patient may recover from all these symp- 
toms, which may be called primary, and may die from the secondary 
effects of the poison years afterwards. 

Q. Will you state how arsenic passes from the stomach to the liver ? 

A. White arsenic when taken in the stomach is dissolved in the sto- 
nach and intestines by gastric and intestinal juices ; spread out upon the 
losterior surface of these intestines is a set of blood vessels which com- 
pose what is known as the portal system. The arsenic passes into these 
blood vessels through their walls ; these vessels unite them to form the 
large trunk, as 'the portal vein which empties itself directly into the liver, 
so that this organ is not more fully supplied with blood than any other, 
but it is supplied with blood charged with arsenic from the intestines; 
hence the liver is more likely to contain poison than any other organ ; 
it passes from the liver into the general circulation, thus producing its 
remote effects ; it docs its fatal work most probably upon the blood itself, 
disintegrating the blood corpuscle, thus rendering the blood unfit to per- 
form its functions. 

Q. What quantity of arsenic would be fatal in an adult? A. From 
two and a half to two grains. A less quantity has been fatal, and more 
has been taken without producing death. 

Q. When persons die from the secondary effects, would arsenic be 
found if the parts were analyzed? A. No, sir; I think not. Persons 
have died in eight days from the primary effects and no traces of the 
poison have been found on analysis. 

Q. Assuming the testimony of Drs. Beardsley and Kinney to be true, 
in connection with the analysis, what, in your opinion, was the cause of 
the death of Kelson EL Sherman? A. Assuming the stomach and livei 
I analyzed to be those of Sherman, my opinion, in view of the symptoms 
stated, is, that he died from the effects of a dose of arsenic. 

Witness stated the result of analysis of bismuth sent by Dr. Kinney, 
and said he found no arsenic in it ; he also analyzed the bismuth found in 
the stomach of the deceased, and found it to be pure bismuth. 

Professor Barker testified further in regard to the effect of arsenic upon 
the lungs, heart and bowels, and explained how pain followed from tha 
various parts as the poison made its progress from the throat to the intes- 
I les ; faintness occurs ; purging may be wanting in some cases ; convul- 
sions are exceptional, as is also delirium. 

Cross examined by Waterous : Was appointed professor of toxicology 
in 1S67 ; never saw a person die by arsenical poisoning and n?ver saw 
one under the influence, and have had no experience of it as a medical 
practitioner ; learned of the symptoms described from books and testi- 
mony 1 have heard ; commenced the analysis which gave the sulphide of., 
arsenic ^r thr 6th of November, 1871, and finished on the 23d; the liver 



60 LYDIA SHERMAN. 

delivered to me was in my laboratory from May 13th to Novembei #tk 
hidden behind some bottles in a sealed jar in a cupboard, and the cup- 
board was locked, and the laboratory was locked, and no one had a key 
but myself and the janitor ; I completed the first analysis about the first 
of July ; students and persons in general are not allowed in the room j 
told the janitor that the cupboard door was not to be opened by him or 
any one else. 

Mr. Waterous commenced asking a series of questions designed to 
ascertain what directions or information the witness received on getting 
the liver, and a sharp tilt followed between counsel and witness^ 
aDd the latter testified that he was informed that arsenic was sus- 
pected to be in the liver, that he commenced the examination with a view 
of finding a metallic poison, but not with a view to find arsenic. [There 
was a good deal of fine hair splitting at this point.] The higgling ap- 
peared to be over the inquiry whether in the analysis the professor was 
looking for arsenic, and he claiming that he was looking *br no particular 
poison, and the counsel continually inquiring if he was looking for 
arsenic. 

"Witness. — Did not pursue the best method to find the presence of 
arsenic ; used eleven chemicals ; no means of telling their weight ; the 
chemicals water, hydrochloric acid, potassium chloride, hydrogen sul- 
phide, nitric acid, sulphuric acid, ammonia, ammonia sulphate, sodium 
nitrate, sodium carbonate, sulphurous acid ; did not analyze the sulphuric 
acid; knew what was in it because I tested it ; previous use of the acid 
showed that it did not contain arsenic ; it does sometimes contain arsenic ; 
that is not true of sulphurous acid ; used about half a fluid ounce of 
sulphuric acid in each operation : know that the yellow material is sul- 
phide of arsenic, first, from the way it was obtained, and second, from the 
results of the tests which I applied to a quantity of the same substance 
obtained similarly ; the contents of the tubes are proofs that the material 
is sulphide of arsenic ; have no other proofs ; the percentage of arsenic 
in tac sulphide is , c iXty-one per cent., and the whole was six hundred and 
two thousandths 01 a grain. 

At this point Mr. Jonathan "Williard, one of the jurors felt faint and 
had to be given water. The incident caused some sensation for a few 
seconds. The court took a recess for a few minutes to give the juror 
opportunity to recover from the effects of the close air. Dr. Jewett wa» 
called into the jury room to s^ him, and*'in a few minutes he took his 
seat with the other jurymen, and the case proceeded. 

Witness. — It is not settled among chemists that arsenic is a metal ; the 
process and materials through which the liver was put would not produce 
arsenic of themselves ; I know it would produce arsenic from tests simi- 
lar which did not produce arsenic from the materials used ; things in 
chemistry whi°h were once considered elements have been found to be 



LYDIA SHERMAN. 61 

compounds ; it is not claimed by chemists that diamonds can be made ; 
men claiming to be chemists have said so ; I dispute their claim to be 
chjmists ; chemists in the Wharton trial did not differ totally as to the 
existence of antimony in the body, bat they differed as to whether the 
amount was sufficient to cause death ; it is not uncommon to find arsenic in 
bismuth ; my treatise does say that arsenic is found in bismuth, and it is 
pometimes; if bismuth having arsenic combined with it was given the 
deceased, they would have been found separate in the body ; bismuth is 
not a poison ; it will not kill a man if taken into the stomach ; the sub 
nitrate of bismuth is the article I refer to. 

[Waterous read from a book an account of the case of a man who took 
two drachms of bismuth by mistake, and had burning and purging, and 
died in nine days.] 

Q. Do you believe that ? A. Let me see the book ; the book was 
handed the witness, and he replied, " I do not believe it, it has been con- 
tradicted." 

Q. Do you know whether arsenic enters into the combination of the 
beverages sold over the bar, now-a-days ? A. Do not know that ; know 
that certain coloring matter in beverages have been said to produce bad 
effects something like arsenic ; it is maintained by some toxicologists 
that arsenic will reach the liver if brought in contact with the body ; after 
a sufficient lapse of time, arsenic applied externally will reach the liver; 
it is a fact that some solution applied to the head has poisoned ; it is 
called Fowler's solution; have known one recorded case of a person 
dying by inhaling poison in a papered room ; have seen recorded cases 
of two grains of arsenic causing death, and one case where two and a 
half grains did it ; could not tell how long the arsenic had been in the 
liver ; could not tell from any I saw in the arsenic how long it had been 
in the stomach ; could not tell how long it had been there, or whether it 
had been put in there an hour before ; I saw the stomach ; had examined 
a human liver before May 13th, 1871, to find poison, and had found 
arsenic in one before that ; the case was that of Frank Parrott, in Litch- 
field, early in 1870 ; also the Peck case in Kensington, which never came 
to trial; also examined a body in Albany, in 1863, and found arsenic; 
examined other cases and found poison, but have examined others and 
not found it ; have noted three instances of deaths from arsenic in two 
hours; conducted the analysis alone; choraline is used for coloring 
iquors. 

Direct resumed : The poison found if taken previous to Friday would 
have operated before Monday night ; know of only two recorded cases 
of death from nitrate of bismuth ; one has been re-investigated, and found 
by competent authority that it was not bismuth that was given, but a 
white precipitate ; the second case reported is not believed by the author 
y{ the VrK)k ; Mon*ret says he gave it freely from two to six drachms tf» 



LYDIA SIliSRMAN, 

children, with no evil effects ; Worm ley and Otto, both lead ng author- 
ities, did not mention bismuth among the poisons; am satisfied that tW 
materials I used did not introduce arsenic. 

TESTIMONY OF WILLIAM FORD. 

William Ford called and sworn : Resided in Birmingham for seven 
years; knew Sherman ; was at the time of his death an officer in Derby ; 
Sherman was also ; met Sherman the Sunday afternoon before his death 
at the Naugatuck depot, standing on the platform, said he had been to 
Providence, K. 1.; had him go with me to Fay's saloon to see about a 
breaking in, and then to a wharf back of Bassett's shop, and watched a 
party there till after dark; stopped an hour at Peck's store, and then left 
him at his door at a quarter past ten, and never saw him alive again ; 
could see nothing unusual in his appearance, and nothing indicating that 
he had been drinking that day ; drank nothing that evening. 

Cross-examined : Said to him that he looked pretty well for a man that 
had been on a spree ; said so because I had heard he had been on one, 
not because of his appearance. 

The Court then cautioned the jury not to read accounts of the trial in 
the newspapers, nor to talk with people about it, after which the court 
adjourned to Tuesday, April 23d, at 9.30 A. M. <? 

THE CONVICTION. 

nOW LYDIA SHERMAN RECEIVED THE DECISION OF THE JUF.Y. 

The trial of Lydia Sherman was resumed on Tuesday, April 23d. In 
the forenoon there were not many spectators present, but in the afternoon 
the court-room was filled, many ladies being present, both within and 
without the bar. As on other days, there was quite a sprinkling of 
ministers and doctors present among the persons within the bar. The 
prisoner appeared much as usual, with, perhaps, a little increase of a 
look of anxiety. The testimony went mostly to show the relations that 
existed between the accused and the deceased, and to clear up some minor 
points. The attorneys for the State at the close of the day rested. 

TESTIMONY OF WILLIAM S. DOWNES. 

William S. Downes was called and sworn : Reside at Derby •, knew 
Nelson II. Sherman, and worked for him for fifteen years before his death 
in Shelton's factory; was at work with him on the Monday previous to 
his sickness, hanging a grindstone, as late as five o'clock on that day. 
lie seemed to be as well as ever that day, as far as I could see ; nothing 
unusual in his manner that I noticed ; we had some beer that day outside 
of the shop ; should think we had two quarts ; that was long in the after- 
noon ; it was a stone pitcher of beer ; there was about five of us who &.D 




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LYD1A SHERMAN. 6* 

drank from it ; think I was the one who drank last out of it, as I took 
care of the pitcher; there was nothing unusual in the beer, and nothing 
poisonous ; I felt no effect of it ; the last of it was drunk about four 
o'clock. 

Cross-examined by Waterous. — Mr. Sherman did not go home to dinner 
that day ; I did ; he lived between an eighth and a quarter of a mile from 
the shop ; think he lived nearer than I ; I was gone about three-quarters 
of an hour; think he was at work facing up the stone while I was gone, 
he was at work when I went and when I came back, and should judge 
from the looks of the stone that he had been at work while I was gone; 
never saw him after five o'clock that day ; sometimes he was off for a 
week ; never knew him to be off over a week before ; had those spells 
once in two or three weeks. 

TESTIMONY OF GEORGE W. SHERMAN. 

George W. Sherman called and sworn : Am a brother of the deceased, 
Nelson II. Sherman; reside in Brooklyn, N. Y.; resided in my brother's 
family in all about nine weeks previous to his death; it was not continu- 
ous; there was an interval between; the day of my first coming was tho 
25th of January, 1871, and I left about the 23d of February ; the next 
time I was there was the 13th of March ; the next time I went away was 
the 22d of April ; that was the last time I was there. 

Q. What were the relations of the prisoner to the deceased as to kind- 
ness while you were there ? A. I noticed the first time I went there that 
they did not live happily together. 

Q. State what you saw or heard. A. I heard them talk angrily at 
each other several times, and hard words were used ; it was in the base- 
ment where it occurred, at the table; they had some angry words, but I 
do not know what the words were; they were so disagreeable to me that 
I got up and left, and I looked as I was going, and she was just rising 
fiom the table, and he was sitting at the table ; I overheard loud words 
after I got up stairs ; I mean louder words than usual ; thought both. 
used loud words; remember another occasion when they had angry* 
words; that was the 16th of April, on Sunday; did not hear the whole 
of the conversation, for it was so disagreeable to me that I got up and 
went into the back yard, and when I came back they were still talking 
angrily ; I heard him tell her she might take what things she brought 
and leave, or go, I forget the exact word ; she replied, " Very well ; * 
that was all I heard of the occurrence, that I remember. 

Q. Will you state what you know about them not sleeping together T 
A. During my last stay there she called my attention to the fact that they 
did not occupy the same bed, and asked me if I knew it, and after that 
she gave me to understand, in different ways, that they did not occupy 
the same bed 
ft 



66 LYDTA SHERMAN. 

Q. Did she assign a reason for it? A. When she first called my 
attention to it, I judge, from what she said, that she wanted Nattie to 
Bleep up stairs, and my brother would not let him sleep away from him, 
~and she said she preferred to sleep up stairs rather than sleep three in a 
bed; she said once, that while unwell, she lay outside of the bed, with 
her clothes on, and that my brother came into the room to go to bed, 
and when he saw her there on the bed that he reached over her, and got 
Nattie and carried him up stairs, and that he slept up stairs, and that sha 
6lept down stairs that night. 

Q. During the time you were there, do you know whether he or she 
slept up stairs ? A. It is my impression that once in coming down stairs 
I called at an up stairs room, and asked her how she was, and she 
replied ; she complained to me about that time, that when she was un- 
well' that my brother did not ask how she was; she complained a great 
deal about him ; I remember on one occasion when she was talking about 
him, she said she had rather have him come home after he had been 
drinkig, because he saluted her much more pleasantly. 

Wa erous. — You mean that she had rather have him come in drunk 
than sober. A. Yes, sir ; that was what was meant. Not that she meant 
intoxicated, but after he had been drinking some. 

Q. What was there about the saluting ? A. She said that at such 
times he called her Tiddie ; I remember another time when she said that 
he treated her the worst when he was the soberest, and she did not see 
through it. 

Q. Do you know what Mrs. Sherman's feeling was toward her husband 
about their going into society ? A. The remark was something like this : 
she was speaking about his not taking her into society ; she said she 
knew that he did not love her, and did not respect her, and that he was 
ashamed to be seen on the street with her; we were in the sitting room 
alone ; I remember when she was talking about his being away, that she 
said she supposed he was with other women ; we two were alone in the 
sitting-room at that time ; she talked twice that I remember about 
divorce ; the first occasion occurred at the breakfast table when she and 
I were alone ; then she talked about who to get, and talked about the 
different lawyers. The other occasion occurred in the sitting-room ; she 
said she didn't like to get a divorce on account of what people would say, 
as she had been told about him. 

Waterous. — Before she married him? A. That is what I inferred 
from the remark. # 

Q. Anything else occur to you ; anything about money ? A. On one 
occasion I recollect of her telling how much she let him have previous to 
the marriage ; she said she let him have §800 ; that she had used in the 
family what would come to about $1800, with the $800 ; when she was 
talking about his disappointing her before marriage, she said that he 



LYD1A SHERMAN. 

promised to go down there and get married, and that he failed to do so ; 
the remark then was, that she would not have had him at all if she had 
not let him have so much money ; this was in the sitting-room when we 
were both alone ; about a week before I went away for the last time 
before his death, my brother did not speak to the accused only when he 
could not help it, and sometimes he did not pass her food at the table, 
and did pass to all others ; this is what I observed ; it occurred several 
times during that week. 

Q. Do you know anything about the prisoner inducing the deceased to 
join the temperance society ? A. He joined the temperance division the 
night I did : Mr. ITubbard came in and asked my brother if he would go 
down, and he said "no;" don't remember that the accused said anything 
except to endorse what Mr. ITubbard said as "you had better go," or 
something like that ; I called him to me and went into the entry- way, 
and talked with him about going down, and he finally went down and 
joined. 

Q. How soon were you there after your brother's death ? A. Came 
there on the 13th of May ; he was buried on Sunday, the 14th. 

Q. State if at any time while you were there she gave you any state- 
ment about his sickness and death. A. She first commenced with what 
he ate ; she said he came home from his work, and he had eaten some 
fish that she had warmed up in the oven for him ; she said he drank some 
chocolate, one cup *I think, and she remarked that he did not drink as 
much as usual, and that he was very fond of ft, and then she said that 
after supper he went out into the yard and smoked awhile, and finally 
came to the door and asked her if he should not get some spinach ; she 
remarked after that that she never saw him so pleasant before, and he 
had been so ever since he got back ; at that time she went on to tell 
about how he used to order provisions ; said he usually went down and 
ordered such things as he wanted, and sent them up, and that was the 
first she knew what they were going to have ; she said he came back 
from down street in about half an hour, and reported to her that he 
couldn't find any spinach, and that he came in and sat down on the sofa, 
and leaned his head on his hand, and that he remarked that he did not 
see what made him feel so funny ; then she went on to describe wha* 
occurred that night, but I do not recollect it; she said that he got up and 
went into the yard and came in, and said he had been vomiting, and thea 
went out again and came in, and said he had been vomiting again, and 
that it seemed to him that he had got rid of his supper and dinner too; 
on another occasion she said that the day Barnum's show was there, that 
she cleared the windows so that he could look out and see them, and that 
she propped him up so he could look out ; she told me that once he was 
determined to get up, and she tried to persuade him not to, and she said 
lie told her that he was not to lie there any longer, and that he attempted 



68 LYDIA SHERMAN. 

to get out ; that he got his feet and legs out, and attempted to raise his 
body up ; that he fell back, and said he guessed he wouldn't get up. 

Q. What was said about a cup of tea ? 

A. Of her own accord she said she thought a strong cup of tea would 
be good, and that she gave it to him. 

Q. Did you hear anything said about arsenic ? 

A. I did. I remember being near the cellar door, and of hearing my 
brother ask her where the arsenic was ; she says to him, " I have taken 
it, and taken care of it ; " this was, I believe, during my first visit. The 
jonversation was something about rats ; heard some one say that they had 
•ried it once on bread and butter. 

Cross-examined : Nellie (Nelson) was at this time setting a trap in the 
cellar ; did not hear her say, " the rats, I guess, have carried it off, paper 
and all." When I heard the angry conversation I did not leave the table 
until I had finished my supper; do not recollect anything that was said. 
The angry words on the 16th of April might have been about going to 
church ; cannot say that she went to church Sunday afternoon ; know 
that she went sometimes. Nelson did not go that I know of; she might 
have said, * I wish you would go to church sometimes," and he might 
have made an angry reply. 

Q. Except these occasions was not Mrs. Sherman a kind and conside- 
rate wife to your brother ? A. I cannot say that I saw much out of the 
way. 

Q. Except these occasions is it not true that Mrs. Sherman treated her 
husband kindly and with due respect, and have you not said so before 
and after his death ? A. I have not said anything to perfectly endorse 
her ; except these occasions do not find that she acted very bad toward 
him. I don't consider that she did. 

Q. Did you ever talk with Mrs. Hubbard about Mrs. Sherman ? A. I 
did after my brother's death. 

Q. Did you not say that Mrs. Sherman was a jewel of a woman ? A. 
Never I (emphatically). 

Q. And that she was not half appreciated there ? A. Never. 

Q. And that there was not one woman in a thousand that would come 
there and do as she did ? A. I might have said that there was not many 
women that would come there and do as she did ; I might have used the 
language without the word thousand ; I think I did not say it I went 
on to tell Mrs. Hubbard what she did do, and said I thought she had 
done about right. 

Q. If you did not say a "thousand," how many women did you have 
in your mind ? [Laughter.] A. My impression is I did not use it ; I 
would not carry it up as high as that. 

Witness testified how the parties slept while he was at the house. 

Never heard th*t Nattie was brought down stairs to sleep because Nel- 



/ 



LYD1A SHERMAN. 63 

ne got in iate ; never suggested to Mrs. Sherman that she had better get 
a divorce , never talked with Mrs. EEubbard about a divorce ; told her 
that I did not believe the rumors ; I went there to bid her good-by ; she 
asked me if I had heard of the rumors ; no one requested me to join the 
temperance organization; the accused might have said I wish you would ; 
she did not ask me to join for Nelson's sake ; she expressed some desire 
that he should join ; she did once and she might several times; do not 
know whi. furnished the money for him to pay the initiation fee ; satf 
him pay it ; I had no conversation with Mrs. Sherman about the fee ; she 
never told me she would give Nelson money to pay his fee ; don't know 
that she then gave him a five dollar bill ; she told me that she had set 
out the bowl to have the doctor see the offensive stuff vomited ; I infer- 
red from what she said that she gave him but one cup of tea during his 
sickness ; did not tell Mrs. Hubbard that Mrs. Sherman gave Nellie too 
much ; might have said so ; had an impression of that sort ; she said she 
gave him money ; heard it rumored after my brother's death that por- 
tions of his body had been taken away ; I spoke to Dr. Beardsley about 
it, and found fault with him to this extent, that he did not let me know ; 
never threatened to prosecute him ; I felt indignant that the rumor should 
be on the street and the family know nothing of it ; he gave me no satis- 
faction, as he should have done. 

TESTIMONY OF ORRIN LATHROP. 

Orrin Lathrop ■ called and sworn : Eeside in Birmingham ; knew 
Sherman for seven years ; last saw him on the Monday night previous to 
his death ; it was on Main street in front of Mr. Henry Florence's grocery 
store, between six and seven o'clock ; it is about six rods from Peck's 
drug store. 

Q. Tell us what was his condition at that time ? A. He was standing 
on the sidewalk with his hand against a tree ; I said "good evening " to 
him, and he turned around and said " good evening ; " he was pale and I 
asked him what was the matter with him, and he said he felt sick in his 
stomach, and he guessed he would go home ; I left him there and went 
around to the post-office. Did not see him again till I was called on to 
watch with the corpse ; he did not start for home before I left him ; do 
not know that he had vomited. No cross-examination. 

TESTIMONY OF MRS. MARY JONES. 

Mrs. Mary Jones called and sworn : I reside in Abington, Mass.; was 
the mother of Sherman's first wife ; was an inmate of his family from the 
28th of June, 1863, to 22d December, 1870 ; left his house for Boonton, 
J., on the 22d ; that was my former residence; I am a widow; was 
>rwaTd an inmate of his family ; I received a telegram from him on 



7*3 LYDIA SHEKMAN. 

lb*- &frH of December, saying his daughter was very sick ; came quick ; 
1 Arrive- 1 there on the 31st, in the morning, and his daughter was dead; 
k&'&ai'itid there a week and one day ; received a telegram on the evening 
o f i;Oe 12th of May, 1871, saying that my son-in-law was dead ;. I got 
uaere on the 13th ; remained until the 6th of June. 

Q. State what were Mr. Sherman's habits and sickness, if he had any ? 
A. He was a man who occasionally made a bad use of liquors ; some- 
limes it would be a good many months when he would not taste a drop, 
and then it would not be as long ; have known him to go over a year a 
good many times. 

Q. Describe what sickness he had, and the nature of it ? A. Don't 
know that I ever knew Mr. Sherman to be sick while I remained in his 
family, or at any time, except when he had been away for a few days ; 
then when he came home he would vomit some, and after taking a strong 
cup of coffee or tea, he would bo around again ; these spells came under 
my own observation, for I took care of him at the time ; never knew him 
sick after one night's sleep, not when I waited upon him ; his wife died 
the 2d December, 1869 ; he was married to the prisoner, he told me, on 
September 15th, 1870 ; was not at the house on the 9th of December, 
when he was sick; he was sick when I got home, but he had dene having 
the doctor; the prisoner was at Sherman's house about three or four 
weeks before they were married. 

Q. What were their relations to each other while you were there / A. 
While I was there they were very kind to one another in my presence. 

Q. If you know of any quarrels between them, state that. A. I often 
heard them having angry words in their room. 

Q. How many times ? A. Could not say the number of times ; quite 
a good many times ; do not know what the difference between them was ; 
I never tried to know ; never heard anything but once distinctly. 

Q. State what that was. A. I was passing their door and I heard Mr. 
Sherman say, " Lydia, if you are dissatisfied, you may take what you 
have brought here and leave, or go away," I do not know which ; I hur- 
ried away and heard no more. 

Q. Was that before marriage ? A. Yes, sir. 

Q. If anything occurred there after Addie's funeral, state it A. On 
Saturday evening before I was to leave, I had a little work to do in the 
basement, and I rose up in the sitting-room, leaving old Mrs. Sherman 
asleep on the sofa, and Lydia sitting *.by the stove ; I went out carefully 
and closed the door and went into the basement. As I got there I heard 
Mr. Sherman pass the basement windows and come to the basement door 
and come in ; he had been to market for meat ; he brought it to the table, 
and while undoing it he said — 

[Objected to and admitted.] 

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LYDIA SHERMAN. 7$ 

the winter with us." I told him that T did not feel that I could. lie 
said he would send for my trunk. I then tcld him that I did not feel 
that. I could possibly stay with him. Then he said he wished that I 
would, for he was afraid his little Nattie would be taken sick the same as 
Addie was. I told him that I did not think there was any danger that 
the child would be, and that if he was that his wife would take as good 
care of the child as I would myself. At that moment she bounced into 
the room — 

Mr. Waterous. — The portion of the conversation up to this point we 
object to. 

Witness. — Then she flew up to him — 

Waterous (interrupting). — " Flew ? " (Laughter.) 

Witness. — Yes, sir ; and she said that he had been finding fault about 
her to me, and not taking good care of his family, and. that if he was 
dissatisfied with her care she would leave the house that night. I beg- 
ged of her to be quiet, for that he had not said a word about her, and had 
never said anything about her. She said she knew better, for she had 
heard every word we had said, and that he had always done it. Up to 
that time we were never alone together time enough for him to complain 
of her, for she always came in right after he did. 

Q. State her manner at this time. A. If I am a judge I should say 
that she was very angry in her manner, more so than I ever saw a person, 
I think. 

Q. Have you given all of that occurrence ? A. lie then went up staira 
and she followed him. 

Cross-examined. — Went down there to iron some pocket handkerchiefs ; 
I was not making doughnuts ; don't make them in the evening. 

Waterous. — Did I ask you if you did ? 

Witness. — No; but I thought I would tell you. (Laughter.) 

Waterous. — Well, madam, go on, I am ready for any further commu- 
nications you may have to make. 

Q. When was this? A. On Saturday evening ; nothing was said about 
Mrs. Sherman. 

The court hero took a short recess. 

After the recess the cross-examination was renewed. After numerou 
inquiries witness stated — 

Alter Sherman's death the accused told Mr. Shelton she wished to keejv 
the house. She told me the first week after Mr. Sherman died that 
she thought she would keep boarders, as she knew plenty of gentlemen 
who would board with her ; that she would keep them on account of Nat- 
tie ; there were times when there would be a great many rats at the 
house ; after she came I gave them no poison, but before she came, dur- 
ing the time I was there, I gave them arsenic. 



•4. LYDIA SHERMAN. 

FURTHER TESTIMONY BY DR. BEARDSLEY. 

Dr. Beardsley recalled : The prescription left by Dr. Kinney was com- 
posed of hydrocyanic acid dilute ; subnitrate oi bismuth, one' drachm ; 
gum arabic pulverized ; water and simple syrup each one ounce, rubbed 

ell together ; the repetition of the dose was left blank for me to direct ; 

directed him to take a teaspoonful once in two hours if it would stay 
on his* stomach ; the next morning I asked the prisoner if the patient had 
been able to take any of the prescription ; she said that he had taken two 
teaspoon fuls, and that attempting to take a third he was so sick he could 
not swallow it, and spit it out ; I inferred from that that he had taken two 
teaspoonfuls ; there was in the prescription twenty-four teaspoonfuls ; in 
the two taken he would get five grains of nitrate of bismuth and two 
drops of the diluted hydrocyanic acid ; the acid in the strong state is not 
?used ; in the United States they have in the shops a preparation diluted 
which has two drops of the strong in a hundred of the diluted ; the pre- 
paration used was the diluted one. 

Q. Could there be any danger of death from poison from that prescrip- 
tion ? A. No, sir, not even if he took it all at one dose. 

Q. How long would it take to feel a dose of arsenic ? A. From half 
an hour to three hours ; I have seen the effect come on in less than 
half an hour in a case I had. Witness stated the symptoms as others 
had. 

Q. Is the first vomit in such cases offensive ? A. My experience is 
that the subsequent vomit is more offensive than the first ; in the case of 
Mr. Brock, the case I alluded to, the vomit was very offensive the second 

day. 

Cross-examined. — Did not examine the phial on Friday morning ; saw 
it on the stand ; did not see it the night before. 

Q. How do you know then that hydrocyanic acid was used ? A. I do 
not, I only give you the prescription. The presumption is — 

Waterous. — Never mind the presumption, doctor ; we can all guess. 

Q. You do not know that the subnitrate of bismuth was not supplanted 
by arsenic ? A. I did not examine it ; L could not have told by looking 

at it. 

Q. If in place of the five grains of bismuth there were five grains of 
arsenic it would have caused death, would it not ? A. I think it wouid, 
but he had the symptoms of death before he took that prescription. 
(Smiles.) 

Q. Is subnitrate of bismuth a poison? A. I do not consider it a poi- 
son in the sense I look at it ; the case given has been contradicted, and it 
was proved that the dose was a precipitate of mercury ; read this from 
Taylor ; bismuth might be considered a poison only in the sense that a 
jackknife would be if it was swallowed, and cause death if taken in a 



LYD1A SH^MAll 75 

large quantity ; so might yellow earth and gravel ; Taylor gives a case of 
poisoning by bismuth and Wharton one. 

[Waterous. — Two.] * 

The books prove a negative; would not give much for Taylor's opin- 
ion on the subject ; bismuth does sometimes contain arsenic. 

Q. Did George Sherman ever find fault with you for having a post- 
mortem made ? A. Yes ; he had a conversation with me ; cannot say 
hat he found fault, but I might have inferred from his manner that he 
found fault ; he said persons who took a person's liver were liable to 
prosecution. 

Foster. — If arsenic had been substituted for the two teaspoonfuls of 
bismuth, would it have caused death ? A. It would, for the man was 
nearly dead ; he was almost in articulo mortis. 

By Wooster. — How large doses of bismuth have you given? A. I 
.have given a drachm, and I consider it as harmless as chalk. 

Waterous. — Did the patient survive ? 

Witness. — Yes, sir ; he got well. 

Q. How much arsenic is there in bismuth ? A. It is at the rate of lesa 
than half a thousandth of a grain. 

Q. Have you not heard of cases where there was thirty per cent, of 
arsenic ? A. I have not. 

CLOSE OF THE CASE FOR THE STATE. \ 

M. Wooster. — This closes our case for the State. 

The court then adjourned to Wednesday, at 9.30 A. M. 

SIXTH DAY. 

Wednesday, April 24th, the defence of Lydia Sherman was begun. 
Only five witnesses were heard, and the taking of their testimony occu- 
pied the entire day. The only evidence of much importance was given 
by a gentleman and his wife, who resided in one-half of the house 
occupied by the Sherman family. As will be seen by the testimony, 
nothing was offered explanatory of the evidence proving the deceased 
was poisoned, and at five o'clock the defence closed, somewhat unexpect- 
edly to the spectators and others. An effort was made by the State 
Attorney to get in the testimony about the other deaths, bnt it failed, 
and counsel were given till morning to prepare for argument. During 
the day the court-room was filled with people, and in the afternoon there 
was the usual full attendance of ladies. There were also present two 
gentlemen, brothers of the deceased, Charles and Andrew Sherman, brass 
founders, in South street, Brooklyn. They were well dressed, genteel- 
looking men. They had not been present during the proceedings before. 

The court opened at twenty minutes to ten, and the jury were called 



76 LYDIA SHERMAN. 

and three were found absent. At a quarter to ten the absent juiors 
arrived. The hearing then proceeded. 

THE CASE FOR THE ACCUSED. 

Mi, Waterous arose and said, that perhaps a word of explanation was 
necessary for the jury, and there was need of but one word. In the 
spring of 1871, Sherman left home and was gone for several days. What 
he did while absent they knew. lie returned in a state of mind such as 
his kind of life produced. On Saturday he did not work, as he was not 
able. On Sunday he did not work, but he was on Monday able to do 
some work. On Sunday, they should show — and here he desired to say 
they should not assail the dead, but to defend the living. On that Sun- 
day, not satisfied with this debauch, while unhappy, or on account of 
some other cause, he went to drinking again and became intoxicated, and 
came home intoxicated about half-past eleven at night ; that he was asked 
by his wife if he wanted supper, and he said he would help himself, and 
that he went into the basement and ate freely of cold lobster, and went to 
bed. The next morning he went to work, and had his dinner sent to 
him at noon. At night he came home, and made his supper on some 
cold shad and some chocolate. Then he had the headache and vomited. 
He was worse in the morning, and though his wife suggested sending for 
the doctor, he would not consent, and he did not until the next morning, 
when she further urged it. She expressed great relief upon the doctor's 
arrival. The next day she became uneasy again, and had the doctor sent 
for, and also again on the next day. She kept the vomit and showed it 
to the doctor, with some such remark as " did you ever see such stuff 
come out of a human stomach ? " She was with him day and night, and 
exhibited that faithfulness which the jurors as husbands and sons were 
always glad to see. This continued until he died. After his death the 
landlord, anxious to know whether she was to remain, called, and an 
arrangement was made for her to remain for the unexpired term. This 
the jury already had largely learned, but further it would appear that she 
had been a kind and faithful wife, and none knew it better than the 
deceased. This was most strikingly exhibited by that last act of his, of 
committing his little son to the care of the woman who was now on trial 
charged with his murder. There was another matter that would be 
explained. The story of Mr. Peck, the druggist. The accused did buy 
in the early spring some arsenic of Mr. Peck. Counsel spoke of her 
refreshing Mr. Peck's memory about the purchase of arsenic. She bought 
it for rats, though Mr. Peck did not remember it. On the Sunday after, 
she spread that arsenic on pieces of bread and put them in the cellar. 
The proof of that was to be given. The necessity for the use of the 
poison had already appeared. A few days after dead rats were found 
about there. One was seen to go into the well. That was all tljpy knew 



LYDIA SHERMAN. 77 

about poison. Whether Sherman died of poison they did not know ; 
whether arsenic was found in his stomach they did not know, though 
Professor Barker said he did. If there was arsenic there, they did not 
know how it got there ; they knew they did not put it in there. Whether 
it got there by accident, or whether the deceased, ashamed of his life, 
took it, they did not know. There was another circumstance that he 
should refer to. The State had attempted # to show a motive by showing 
that for awhile the parties did not cohabit together. Counsel explained 
that by saying that it was owing to the necessity of taking care of the 
boy Nattie, and that the arrangement was a mutual one, and was not 
owing to bad feeling. If this looked like a motive for killing, then the 
State might make the most of it, but with the explanations they should 
offer, they did not think thj jury would find anything to justify the belief 
that it furnished a sufficient motive. Counsel explained in regard to the 
money matter, and claimed that Sherman gave his pocketbook to hia 
mother so that it should not get to his son Nelson. It would also be 
shown that it was a matter of complaint with George Sherman that the 
accused, who was charged with an awful crime to get $105, gave too 
lavishly to the lad Nelson. On the subject of divorce, they should offer 
but a word or two. He believed that in each instance the subject wag 
referred to first by George Sherman, and they expected to show that he 
had told a neighbor that he had advised Mrs. Sherman that she ought not 
to live with his brother. If then there was anything in the reference 
about divorce, they should lay alongside of it the antidote. These were 
all the points they desired to call the attention of the jury to. 

TESTIMONY OF LEWIS D. HUBBARD. 

Lewis D. Hubbard called and sworn : Reside in Birmingham, in the 
same house formerly occupied by the Sherman family; resided there 
when they did ; resided in one part, and they the other ; the two families 
occupied the same house about twelve years ; had been acquainted with 
Sherman about eighteen years; first knew of his sickness on Tuesday 
morning, through Mrs. Sherman ; she was coming from the back yard 
with a bowl in her hand, and she showed me something he had vomited 
up, and asked me what I thought of it ; the appearance of the matter was 
dark, and it had a very offensive smell ; do not remember what it smelled 
like, but I made the remark at the time that it smelled like beer, and that 
I thought he would soon be better ; think she said she had sent for Dr. 
Bcardsley , first saw Sherman during his sickness on Wednesday night ; 
I was called in by him ; he sent for me, and I think Mrs. Sherman came 
for me, and said Mr. Sherman would like to see me ; I went to his room, 
and when I went in he shook hands with me and said, " Mr. Hubbard, I 
feel as though I was going to die ; are my dues paid in the lodge," mean- 
ing the Kniyhts of Pythias ; he told him they were paid till July 1 : I 



/8 1YD2A SBERMAd. 

told him I would give him a receipt if he had none ; he said he had one > 
asked him if he wanted watchers from the lodge ; don't know that he 
made a reply, but he referred me to his wife ; asked her if she needed any 
assistance, and she told me she probably should, and I told her I would 
call again after the division ; about ten o'clock I called again, and asked 
Sherman how he felt ; he saidjie felt more easy ; asked Mrs. Sherman if 
she needed any watchers that night, and she said that as he felt better she 
thought she could get along with him alone ; told her she could call me 
if any one was wanted ; inclined to think that he vomited during my first 
visit ; can't say that I called Thursday morning ; was there Thursday 
night about six o'clock; Mr. Sherman's appearance was worse, and he 
told me he thought he could not live long, a^nd he wanted to have me 
stay with him ; he vomited during the evening more or less ; I was up 
with him that night ; also the old lady, Mrs. Sherman, and his wife ; the 
wife might have laid down on the lounge once or twice during the night ; 
the prisoner principally waited upon him ; he preferred to have her mix 
the brandy slings, because she understood it ; I was there when he died 

Q. Was there anything said about the little boy, Nattie, before Mr 
Sherman's death ? * 

A. About three o'clock the morning before he died he expressed a 
wish ; the first I heard he said, " You understand this matter, Lydia ; we 
talked this matter over yesterday ; what's in the house is yours ; I want 
you to promise that you will take care of Nattie, and bring him up." I 
started to leave the room, and the old lady, Mrs. Sherman, called me 
back and said, " I wish you to hear what Mr. Sherman says, and be wit- 
ness to it." She said, " You remember what Mr. Sherman said," and I 
told her I did. 

Q. State what the conduct of Mrs. Sherman was toward her husband 
during his sickness, so far as you observed. A. I saw nothing different 
from what is seen between any man and wife under the same circum- 
stances ; she manifested a great deal of feeling for him all the time during 
his sickness. 

Q. Did Mr. Sherman say anything as to what he had eaten ? A. On 
Thursday night I spoke to him about what he had been eating, and 
asked him what he had been eating or drinking to make him so sick. 
He said he had eaten very little excepti, I think he stated, lobster. 

Q. To what did he attribute the cause of his sickness, if anything ? 

Mr. Foster objected to the question as leading, and its form was 
changed. 

Q. To what did he attribute the cause of his sickness? A. Don't 
think he said anything to me. 

Q. What were his habits in regard to the use of liquor? A. He had 
spells of drinking, probably to excess. Aside from that he was verjr 
attentive to his business when he was not off on these spells. 



LYDIA SHERMAN. 81 

Q. How frequent were these spells? A. During the last few years he 
might have had them once a month, and then once in three months, not 
oflener than once a month; do not know his state of mind on Sunday; 
on Saturday had a talk with him about cleaning the well ; the well was 
cleaned that day; I told him I had it cleaned because a rat had got into 
it ; do not know of any rats being poisoned except those I poisoned 
myself; I remember the prisoner bringing the slop-pail with a rat in it, 
and showing it to me ; think it was on Sunday, when Mr. Sherman was 
absent ; know of her coming and saying that a rat had run into the well ; 
that is all I know about rats anyway ; I used preparation for rats, should 
say it was phosphorus. [A discussion ensued about the effect of the 
poison, or whether Hubbard poisoned the rat that ran to the well.] 

Mr. Foster. — It is admitted that Mr. Hubbard did not poison that rat. 

Mr. Waterous. — Well then we will put that down as admitted. 

"Witness. — In the fall of 1870 I purchased potatoes, and they were 
nearly destroyed by rats; told Sherman to lo(5k at his, and he found them 
in the same condition, and he said, "I can't stand this, I must get some 
poison;" don't know what he got; after Sherman's death Mrs. Sherman 
made an arrangement with me to take care of the garden ; I was to have 
a part, and she was to have what she wished ; would not swear what 
poison Sherman said he would get for rats, but I have an impression 
that he said he would get arsenic; Mr. She! ton desired me to get the Tent 
off her hands, so that he could rent it to other parties. 

Cross-examination, by Mr. Foster, and numerous questions were asked 
about the witness first learning of the sickness of the deceased, and of his 
meeting the accused in the yard with the berwl, but nothing new was 
learned; the vomit did smell offensive; when I first saw Sherman, he 
was complaining of pain in his stomach; he was pale and sickly, and 
looked bad ; asked him if he had ever been troubled so before, and he 
said he had been troubled with pains more or less since he was fourteen 
years old; his voice was husky, and he complained of his threat; do not 
recollect that he vomited during either of my visits on Wednesday; on 
Thursday evening he seemed low; he had pain; his voice was hoarse; 
he vomited, but only a little matter came up ; I went that night for Dr. 
Beardsle^and I went to the drug store and got a prescription and some 
brandy; gave him some of the prescription, and he vomited it up; he> 
vcmited it up in about ten minutes ; he took it only once, for he said it 
burned his stomach ; when I gave it to him he said, " Oh, my God, my 
stomach, I don't want to take any more of that ; " he took it only once ; 
this was a prescription from Dr. Beardsley ; there was another receipt 
from Dr. Kinney; don't know who sent for Dr. Kinney; was not present 
when Sherman made that remark about the tea, but was called in after 
he had fainted away ; Thursday night Mrs. Sherman was called to mix 
the sling* about every quarter of an hour ; he wanted them very often , 
6 



82 LYDIA SHERMAN. 

Mrs. Sherman had the entire charge of him ; Dr. Kinney's prescription 
was the first one that stayed on his stomach ; after that he did not vomit 
Any more ; all he took before that was thrown off except brandy. 

Q. Why did yon ask Sherman what he had eaten ? A. Because after 
he had those sprees he was not usually sick, but remained at the house 
till he got over them ; he seemed so different from what he was at other 
limes I asked him ; never saw him sick before ; don't think he ever had 
such turns as this before ; did not ask Mrs. Sherman what was the cause; 
about his only fault was his drinking ; he was a very industrious man 
when sober ; he usually drank till he spent his money and then stopped ; 
she told me Monday at dinner that a rat had run into the well ; after din- 
ner she told me she had been poisoning rats ; that is the reason why the 
well was cleaned ; have not talked with the prisoner about the statement 
I have made ; have talked little with any one ; told Mr. Gardener about 
the lobster ; also told him all I knew about the case as long ago as the 
first trial ; he came to my house and inquired. 

Counsel asked the witness numerous questions as to whether he told 
his story to any one, or talked about the case, but nothing of importance 
was obtained. 

At this point the court adjourned until two P. M. 

The court opened at ten minutes past two. 

Mr. Hubbard resumed : Saw Sherman at the shop on Monday ; talked 
with my wife about the case ; don't know how often ; we did not tell each 
other what we should testify to. 

Direct resumed : Sherman was anxious to know whether he stood 
square on the Lodge books so as to see if his wife would be entitled to 
luneral benefits or not. 

TESTIMONY OF REV. LEONIDAS B. BALDWIN. 

Rev. L. T^TU lrlwin called and sworn : I reside in Bnmingham; am 
rector of St. James Episcopal church ; the Sherman family were connected 
with the church ; I visited Mr. Sherman's family during his sickness ; 
think I made three calls ; the first was on Thursday evening ; the other 
was later on the same evening, and the third was on the morning of his 
death ; came at seven o'clock and was there until after he died. , 

Q. State what the conduct of Mrs. Sherman was toward her husban 
so far as you observed. A. So far as I observed, her conduct was such 
as became a wife under the circumstances. 

Q. Did that continue up to the time of the death ? A. It did, so fcu 
as I saw. 

Cross-examined. — On Thursday evening Mr. Sherman was thought to 
be in a dying condition ; he expressed himself to be in great agony ; the 
pain was in his stomach ; his voice weak ; was there half an hour ; the 
conversation was mostly on my part ; my visit was for the purpose of 



LYDIA SHERMAN. 83 

spiritual consolation, and the conversation was on that topic , the inter- 
val between my calls that evening was about two hours ; saw restora- 
tives administered to Mr. Sherman; he was having a sinking turn, and 
restoratives said to be cologne were thrown upon him ; on Friday morn- 
ing he was much weaker ; not much said about pain ; was not in the 
room at the moment of his death, but in an adjoining room ; think Mr. 
Downes and Mr. Hubbard were there. 

TESTIMONY OF ICHABOD D. ALLEN. 

Ichabod D. Allen called and sworn : I knew Mr. Sherman fifteen or 
sixteen years ; saw him the Sunday night before he died, between ten and 
eleven o'clock ; saw him part of the time in Captain Healey's saloon ; 
first saw him there ; I went in and found him there ; while there the 
party had three or four drinks, and he went out with me, and walked 
with me to my gate, and we talked awhile and then I went in and left 
him ; should not say the man was intoxicated, and I should not say he 
was sober ; he appeared to have been drinking some ; he seemed to be 
despondent; the general run of his conversation was that people there 
had tried to kill him and injure him, and that he would show them that 
he would yet come out the top of the heap and beat them all ; don't recol- 
lect the conversation ; have often heard him talk that way. 

Q. What have been his habits as to the use of liquor ? A. Oh, he used 
to have his sprees pretty often. 

Q. What was his state of mind when he came out of them ? A. Never 
saw him when he was coming out of them ; saw him in them. 

Q. What was his state of mind in them ? A. Sometimes he was 
despondent and sometimes not. 

Q. Did you ever hear him say within a few years that he had as lief be 
dead as not ? A. I should not like to say that. 

Q. State what is your impression. A. I don't recollect anything about 
it; he has talked so much that I didn't pay attention to it. 

Q. Did you ever tell anybody you heard him say so ? 

Mr. Foster. — What, going to contradict your own witness ? 

Mr. Waterous. — What we want, Mr. Allen, is your best impression. 

Witness. — My impression is that when some parties were talking I said 
he said so, but I told the party I could not swear to it; I don't want to 
give it in evidence, I have an impression that he said it for he used to say 
a great deal. 

Cross-examination. — The parties I talked with were Drs. Beardsley an 'i 
Lewis Hotchkiss ; they were in the Bassett House and the conversation 
eame up that way ; I said then that I ought not to have said it ; when he 
was sober he was reserved ; when intoxicated it set his tongue going, but 
he was not always good natured ; I kept a saloon there myself and he 
«sed tr trouble me a good deal ; don't know what Sherman drank at 



84 LYDIA SHEBMAN. 

Healey's, think he drank spirits ; think he drank pop once ; paid for the 
drink and guess they were ten cents a drink all round ; he called for the 
drinks once ; he might have drunk a pony glass of ale ; I told him that 
I guessed no one was trying to beat him any worse than he was himself, 
and that if he would keep to work and be steady he would get along 
well enough ; Mr. Gardener came to me and asked me about this matter. 

TESTIMONY OF MRS. LEWIS D. HUBBARD. 

Mrs. Lewis D. Ilubbard called and sworn : Have known Mr. Sher 
nan thirteen years ; lived in the same house with him about that time 
was in his house with him during his last sickness ; was there the first 
time Wednesday afternoon ten minutes ; was there again on Thursday 
about twilight, and was there a portion of the evening; left about ten 
was there the morning he died, but not when he died. 

Q. What was the conduct of Mrs. Sherman toward him so far as i 
came under your observation ? A. It was very kind. 

Q. What was her conduct during their whole marriage life as far aa 
you observed ? A. As far as I knew it was as well as husband and wifo 
in general; had very little conversation with Mr. Sherman during his ill 
ness ; the preference he had as to who should wait on him seemed to be 
his wife ; he called for her to fix his slings ; on Friday morning, as I 
approached the bed he said, " Oh my God, why don't I die; I ought to 
die." I saw that my husband was needed, and I went immediately for 
him ; the two Mrs. Sherman were there ; saw Sherman Sunday from my 
window ; he did not appear to be strong ; my husband and my mother 
remarked it ; my mother is now sick ; the house was infested with rats ; 
I talked with George Sberman about Mrs. Sherman before her husband's 
death ; he spoke very highly of her and thought she was not appreciated, 
and always spoke in her praise. 

Q. If you recollect any of his expressions, state them. A. I recollect 
that he said that she was one of many. 

Q. Anything said about a jewel ? A. He said in one conversation that 
she was a jewel of a woman. 

Q. Did he refer to a divorce at any time? A. At the time he was in 
our house before his brother's death he said he told her he would go with 
er, or for her to Judge Munson and see about it. 

Q. Did he say anything about advising such a course ? A. Think he 
said nothing more about it ; he said at one time-that it was a shame for 
her to give Nellie any more money, because he made bad use of it ; had 
a conversation after Nelson's death with George Sherman ; he spoke in 
her praise; think I was the first one who told Mrs. Sherman that the 
physician had taken a portion of Mr. Sherman's stomach ; told Mrs. 
Sherman about the taking of the stomach within a week after it. 

Q When Sherman was out late nights, what was the prisoner's con- 



LYDIA SHERMAN 86 

dtict? was she anxious ? A. She was, and she was anxious to have 1 : :m 
keep up his atten ance at the temperance lodge ; she was so anxious th t 
a number remarked it. 

Cross-examined : Did r>ot consider Sherman very sick the first time I 
called ; he • only complained of sickness at the stomach ; Mrs. Sherman 
said nothing about his sickness ; saw the doctor Wednesday morning and 
Asked him what he thought of it, and he said he would come out of it 
witness further testified how the deceased looked, what he took and hcf 
he appeared ; saw no tea given him ; Sherman died within two hour 
after saying, u Oh, my God, why don't I die ! " Nothing was said to him 
then ; I think his wife was coming into the room at that time ; on that 
Sunday I saw him, he walked weak and looked pale ; do not think I am 
mistaken as to what George Sherman told me. 

Q. Were you very friendly to Mrs. Sherman ? A. I was as a neighbor 
should be; I was not intimate with her; I visited her seldom; I visited 
her oftener than once a month ; Mrs. Sherman spoke to me of George 
and of his kindness to her ; do not know who or what introduced the 
subject of divorce in talking with George ; had a conversation with Mrs. 
Sherman, and advised divorce, but she said she could not do it, as she 
thought too much of him ; a few days after Mr. Sherman died, Mrs. Sher- 
man came into my house, and I asked her if she knew that the stomach 
had been sent to New Haven, and she said she did not; she did not seem 
surprised or displeased, and I spoke to my mother about it ; Mrs. Sher- 
man did not seem to care that it had been sent. 

Q. And you were so much surprised that you spoke to your mother 
about it ? A. Well, I spoke to mother about it. 

Witness. — nave not mentioned this to any one except the counsel ; 
spoke to Mr. Gardener about it at my house ; think I have talked with 
him twice ; don't remember who told me that the stomach was taken to 
New Haven, or when I was told, or who was by ; it surprised me when I 
heard it ; something was said about Professor Barker ; did not under- 
stand that it was a secret, and was not cautioned when I was told. 

The court took a recess. 

Philip Meyers called and sworn : I reside in Derby, and I knew Mr, 
Sherman for the last three or four years ; saw him on the Sunday before his 
death, at four o'clock, at the Derby depot, and afterwards in John Miller's 
B*' ->on abou*- five minutes; did not notice his condition, and could not tell 
ii ; did not see him after that ; do not think, from his appearance, that he 
had been drinking. 

CLOSE OF THE DEFENCE. 

Mr. Waterous here said : We rest, if the Court pleases. 
Mr. Foster said that now they proposed to offer the evidence in regard 
to the other cases which had been ruled out in the beginning of the hear- 



m ' LYDIA SflEEMAN. 

ing. The defence claimed that the death was caused by accident or sui 
cide, and to remove this presumption the evidence was again offered. 

Mr. Waterous said that he thought the matter so frivolous that it was 

not necessary to discuss it unless the Court wanted to hear the discussion. 

There was no claim that the woman administered the poison by accident. 

The claim was that this woman did not give the arsenic. -He did not 

^ant to again discuss the question unless the Court wanted to hear it. 

™ The Court asked if the State had any other testimony to offer. 

Counsel conferred, and Mr. Foster said they had no other testimony to 
offer. 

Judge Park then said that nothing had happened in the course of the 
trial to change the decision at first given. The defence did not claim that 
the accused administered the arsenic by accident, or that she did not 
know the properties of arsenic ; and as the admissibility of the evidence 
rested on these grounds, the Court did not see how it could be admitted. 

Mr. Waterous. — Then it is understood that the evidence is closed? 

Mr. Foster. — It is, I believe. 

The subject of arguments was broached, and Mr. Wooster, who was. to 
speak first, said he did not desire to commence then, as he would h^ye to 
break off v 

The court thereupon, at 5 P. M., adjourned to 9.30 A. M. on Thursday 

SEVENTH DAY. 

The proceedings on Thursday, April 25th, the seventh day of the trial 
of Lydia Sherman, proved of more interest to the public than any that 
have occurred. The court-room opened with a full audience, and re- 
mained crowded throughout the day. The delivery of the arguments of 
the four counsel occupied the entire day. There were able presentation? 
of the case in different phases, and were listened to with unflagging inter- 
est by both jury and spectators. The prisoner, who was watched closeh 
by the throng of people present,, paid very little attention to anything 
except the words of the counsel. She seemed more, than at any time we 
, have observed her, deepty impressed with the gravity of her situation. 
Before the court opened she wept a little, and at nearly all the touching 
references made by counsel in their remarks, particularly those by her 
,own counsel, she shed tears. Tiie proceedings were begun by 

COL. WM. B. WOOSTER'S ARGUMENT. 

After assuring the jury that he was conscious of presenting no facts 
except such as were proper to be presented, he spoke to them of their 
responsibility, and of the necessity of protecting society from the class of 
crimes like the one presented before them, which were multiplying with 
terrible frequency. He then referred to the calls of Mrs. Jones to the 
familv of the deceased by the repeated deaths, then to the death of Sher- 



LYDIA SHERMAN. 69 

and the commencement of judicial proceedings, and then said there 
seemed to be but one point conceded on both sides, and that was that 
Sherman died. Beyond that the defence denied all the material facts. 
The question then arose whether he was poisoned with arsenic. The 
doctors and the chemist had agreed that arsenic caused his death, and 
also that the symptoms were those of arsenical poisoning, and to meet 
this the defence had failed, in a city full of able physicians, to bring for- 
ward a man to dispute these grave facts; neither had they brought 
forward any one to meet the testimony of the chemist, and only went so 
far as to attempl to cast doubt upon it by inference, by declaring the 
scien ~e progressive. The entire defence seemed to be that of catching at 
mere feathers, and it should, therefore, be deemed insufficient. The 
question about the muslin, the glass jar, and the box in which the liver 
was placed, was an attempt to seize trifles upon which the jury were to 
infer that the arsenic got to the man's liver from those articles. Further, 
the defence had seemingly made the intimation that the stomach presented 
to the chemist was not that of the deceased. This was another straw to 
which they were clinging. These things were all nothing but feathers,, 
and they would not do. Then they had intimated that bismuth killed 
the man ; but beside the fact that he had taken but a little of it, the 
answer that came was that the man was beyond the reach of human aid 
before he took it. Then why was the intimation made ? Then they re- 
sorted to a further possibility, and .that was, was not bismuth poisonous, 
and did it not have arsenic in it? But these things were all refuted by 
the chemist, the doctors and the druggist. The defence did not stop here. 
They raised the intimation that he took the poison over the bar, but they 
failed to show that he took a drop of spirituous liquors during the week 
before his death ; they only intimated it. Xot content with this, they 
made another intimation, and they say that Sherman took the poison 
himself. Three witnesses were produced to show that he was despondent, 
but all failed to give any of his language to show it. Counsel referred to 
the visit at Ilealey's saloon, and claimed that the evidence did not prove 
that Sherman drank spirituous liquor there. He further referred to 
Sherman's resuming work on Monday, his taking supper, then smoking, 
and then going down town and watching an auction until taken sick 
Was such the conduct of a man who had poisoned himself? Besides 
there was nothing during his illness to intimate the idea of suicide. The* 
the defence bring in a lobster to account for the death. But no intimation 
about a lobster arose throughout the week until Hubbard brought it in 
on that Thursday night ; but did that lobster contain five grains of 
arsenic ? He did not believe that science could be met with a lobster. 
Then it was claimed that Sherman had spells like those before, but the 
proof was that he had been sick but once on the 9th of December, when 
the accused "wa^ in his family, and knowing that he would pursue that 



90 - LY 1)1 A SI] K RMA N. 

matter no farther. Admitting ho had spells of pain in the stomach, thai 
did Dot account for the arsenic. Counsel criticised the testimony of Mrs. 
Hubbard, and referred to the variance between her and George Snerman. 
Admitting that Mrs. Hubbard was right, that affected the guijt or inno- 
cence in no maimer. Keferenee was made to the declaration of Sherman, 
Oh, my God, why don't I die ? I ought to." Supposing that was so, 
he man was in the throes of death and in such a case, who would not 
a ve said it ? He could not see how it affected the case. Then it w&b 
e aimed that she did not do it, because she was always kind and faithful, 
He was not going to believe that the woman was so stupid as to publish 
to the world that she desired to put him out of the way. Such was not 
the way taken in such cases, for we had been told that "A man may smile 
and smile, and be a villain still." She would naturally adopt chis course 
to throw people off their guard. Dr. Webster had even entertained Dr. 
Farkman at his house before killing him. She could not have refused a 
post-mortem without condemning herself. He refuted the idea that she 
bought arsenic for rats, or that she was innocent because Sherman com- 
mitted his son to her care. He then read from the case of* Commonwealth 
vs. Harmon, to show the value and weight of circumstantial evidence, 
and how far doubts are to be entertained by jurors. Counsel then re- 
ferred to the evidence of the prisoner's guilt, and claimed that there was 
sufficient motive for the crime in the unpleasant family relations, and the 
dissatisfaction of the accused with her husband, whom she wanted to 
leave. He spoke of the drinking ■ of chocolate, and of its being well 
ndapted to convey poison, and argued that the only link lacking was 
proof of some one who saw her hand sprinkle the poison. If that must 
he proved, then she might lay thousands dead in her track and go un- 
convicted. Would such a rule be safe? That was for the jury to say. 
Then there was evidence that a second dose of poison was given, but no 
one saw it done. If the jury were to say to the people and the world 
that the administration of the poison must be proved, then God must 
help us, for the people would not. 

Mr. Wooster spoke an hour and three-quarters. 

Mr. Gardener followed for the defence, commencing at fifteen minutes 
before twelve. He reviewed the evidence fully, referred to the affection 
that was shown to exist between the prisoner and her alleged victim, her 
efforts to reform him, and lift him up to a higher plane of manhood than 
that to which he had fallen by the use of the fiery liquid. Even Mrs. 
Jones, the mother-in-law of the deceased, bore testimony of the devotion 
of the prisoner to her husband. The argument in the main was very 
labored and dragged along wearily; but one good point made by the 
counsel was the fact of the prisoner buying arsenic so openly, and in- 
quiring how to use it, when she could have come to New Haven and 
purchased it without any fear of detection. Indeed the State would 



L Y D I £ . S II E II M A N . 91 

never had <nown that she bad arsenic in her possession had she not 
frankly declared that fact, and stated candidly the motive for which it 
was so secured— to poison rats. The last act of his life in giving into 
her care, in the presence of God and man, the custody of his favorite boy, 
shows that, no matter what others may have observed or felt to be their 
angry disagreements, Sherman passed from this life with a loving con- 
fidence in his wife. The counsel closed at twelve minutes before one. 
naving spoken sixty-three minutes. 

Judge Foster, State Prosecutor, at a quarter past two commenced to 
review the evidence. After disclaiming any intention to put in any evi- 
dence not authorized by the practice, the counsel considered the points 
made in Mr. Gardener's summing up. The accused, he said, was accused 
of murder, and as the attorney is compelled to charge in the indictment 
the particular degree, and all cases of poison under the law come under 
the designation of murder in the first degree, he had no alternative in 
this case but to charge the higher offence ; still the jury had the power to 
bring in a verdict of murder in the second degree. To convict the State 
must show, first that he (Sherman) died ; second, that he died of poison; 
third, that it was administered by the accused, and fourth, that it was done 
with felonious intent. The first has been proved beyond a doubt. In 
support of the second it appears he entered the house a healthy man ; the 
accused prepared and gave him food, and him alone — the other members 
of the family being away ; went out, and within an hour was taken with 
an attack that carried him off. She alone tended him in his illness and 
we say she killed him ! (Sensation.) What can be added to carry con- 
viction to the mind of her guilt, except we produce some one who swears 
they mixed the poison or saw it mixed by her ? This man was well ; 
took food and chocolate at the hands of his wife, sickened and died, and 
poison was found in his body. That is our case. Is it not plain and in- 
telligible ? The last poiat is intent. The rule is that the defence must 
show the motive. Mrs. Sherman has not done so, and it is fair to pre- 
sume it was done with felonious intent. The case presents domestic re- 
lations of an unhappy character — distrust, coldness and jealousy, so much 
so that when Sherman's corpse lay there prisoner said to his mother, " I 
had resolved 10 leave Nelson, but now I am glad 1 did not." This show/ 
that their domestic relations were not happy. The defence had declared 
t at life had never been taken upon the testimony of a single expert, ano 
*he prisoner should not be convicted on the single testimony of Dr. Bar- 
ker. Mr. Foster gave a French precedent in El well, where a person was 
hung on analysis of one exhibiting poison after two had failed to find 
any. The prosecuting officer eloquently dwelt upon the relations between 
Sherman and the accused ; showed that she felt she was scorned, and her 
affection for him on his deathbed was the affection of Delilah, when she 
uuessed Samson that she might shear his locks, and touchingly pio- 



92 TYDIA SHERMAN. 

tuied the scene at Sherman's deathbed, where he confided his beloved boy 
to the prisoner's keeping. His words caused the accused to become 
deeply moved, and she hid her face in her hands and wept. Her emotion, 
however, was but momentary, and again she assumed her usual compo- 
sure and indifference to the result 

Mr. Foster was followed by Mr. Waterous, who closed the argument 
for the prisoner in an able and earnest appeal for his client, whose guilt, 
he declared, had not been established by the State. He denied most posi- 
tively that Sherman died of poison, and asserted that the evidence showed 
that Dr. Beardsley did not believe he was suffering from poison, notwith- 
standing his evidence,- as instead of giving an antidote, he administered a 
blue pill and morphine. If his evidence be true the doctor ought to be 
indicted for neglecting to treat him for poison. Counsel contended that 
the State had not found arsenic in the stomach, and if there was. it was 
probably the result of suicide. 

The court then adjourned to 9.30 A. M. on Friday, April 26th. 

EIGHTH DAY. 

Judge Park began the proceedings of Friday April 26th, by charging 
the jury. He charged strongly against the prisoner, but pointed out the 
fact to the jury that they could find her guilty of murder in the 
second degree. This they did after an absence of fifty minutes. The 
penalty is imprisonment for life. The prisoner pressed her hand to her 
forehead and sat down, her son at her side. She was calm again in a mo- 
ment, and conversed with her friends as though nothing unusual had hap- 
pened. She was led out by Jailor Webster, followed by a crowd that blocked 
•he street. She stepped into an open buggy and was drawn to the jail. 

Had Mrs. Sherman been acquitted it is said a bench warrant, which 
was in the court-room, would have taken her to Fairfield county to 
answer the charge of poisoning a former husband. On this charge they 
say there is a clear case against her. 

AT THE JAIL. 

Upon arriving at the jail we learn that the composure of the prisoner 
gave way, and she who had borne herself ^.with so much calmness before 
the jury, broke down and fell into a swoon, recovering from which she 
indulged in a long spell of weeping, expressing her disappointment ove? 
the result of the hearing. 



LYDIA SHERMAN SENTENCED. 




IE CONFESSION OF AN UNNATURAL WIFE AND MOTHER. 

ONTRARY to general opinion, Lydia Sherman was only con- 
victed of murder in the second degree, but exception was taken 
to the evidence by her counsel, and sentence was not given at 
the time. Since the trial Mrs. Sherman has been confined in the 
County Jail, where she drew up a confession of the murders she 
committed by poisoning with arsenic, hence the sentence by Judge San- 
ford on Jan. 11th, 1873. The scene in court was unaccompanied by any 
affecting incidents, and after the delivery of the charge the prisoner was 
immediately placed in a sleigh and driven back to the County Jail, whence 
she will soon be taken to Wethersfield, to be there imprisoned for the 
period of her natural life. 

THE CONFESSION. 

I was born near the town of Burlington, N. J., Dec. 24, 1824. My 
mother died when I was nine years old, and I was sent to live with my 
uncle, Mr. John Clay gay. I never attended school much, being able to 
go only about three months in the year. At 16 years of age I went to 
New Brunswick with my two brothers, and afterward to live with tha 
Rev. Mr. Van Amburg in Jacksonville, twenty-five miles from New 
Brunswick. I lived there for three years, then returned to New Bruns- 
wick and learned to be a tailoress. I worked three months without pay 
and was then employed by a Mr. Owen. He was a class leader in the 
Methodist church of which I became a member. It was there that I met 
Mr. Edward Struck, who was a devoted Christian up to a few months 
before his death. I was his wife eighteen years ; he has been dead about 
eight years. Our first child we called Lydia, and after her birth we went 
to New York and resided near Elizabeth and Houston streets. In New 
York we had two boys. Afterward we moved to Carmansville, where we 
had four children born. At the end of that time Mr. Struck obtained an 
appointment on the Metropolitan Police force. Six months later we lost 
a daughter, aged twenty-two months, by the measles. About this time 
my husband was transferred to Manhattanville, and we moved to 125th 
street. Then occurred our first trouble, which came about in this way: 

A man came up to Stratton's Hotel, on the Bloomingdale road, and 
made a disturbance in the bar-room. He attacked the bartender with a 
knife and 'mmedia'tely the cry of murder was sounded. Just at this time 

03 



94 L^DIA SHE EM AN. 

the Manhattanville stage came along, and on it was a detective, who heard 
the cry. He rushed into the hotel, but finding he was powerless to ac- 
complish anything he asked for the assistance of a policeman. There 
was none near, and he endeavored to quiet the man by talking to him, 
but he could not succeed. The man appeared deranged. The detective 
struck him with a cane, but the man would not desist. He struck the 
officer with a knife, when the latter drew a pistol, and shot the man dead. 

The stage drove on and soon met Mr. Struck, and as he was a police- 
man, the driver told him the circumstances about the killing of the man 
at the hotel. Mr. Struck started immediately for the hotel, and when he* 
reached there he found that the man was dead. Word was sent to the 
Manhattanville police station, and the doctors gave it as their opinion that 
the man was deranged. My husband reported at headquarters, and soon 
after a rumor prevailed that he would not arrest the man, because he had 
a pistol. This was incorrect, but the employe's of the hotel testified 
that Mr. Struck was at the place and was afraid to go in. The result was 
that he was discharged from the police force. » I sent for Capt. Hart, but 
when he came my husband would neither look, speak, nor have anything 
to do with him. The Captain said he was out of his mind, and advised 
me to have him sent to an asylum. 

One night after this he was acting very badly, and I called in Police 
Sergeant Mc — , who lived in the lower part of our house. The Sergeant 
advised me to put him out of the way, as he would never be any good to 
me or himself again. I asked him what he meant, and he told me to get 
a certain quantity of arsenic and give him some of it. I paid ten cents 
for it, put it in some oaf meal gruel, and gave him some of it during the 
afternoon. That night he was very ill, and at 8 o'clock the next morning 
he died. 

The following July I made up my mind that my two little children, 
Mary Ann, six years old, and Edward, two years younger, would be bet- 
ter off if they were out of the way, so after thinking the matter over for 
several days I made them some of the same kind of gruel their father 
had eaten. They only survived a short time. 

The doctors said that the children died of gastric fever. They dad not 
the least suspicion of the truth. 

I* continued to keep house, and had four children with me at the time. 
My son, George Whitfield, who was then 14 years of age, was living with 
me. In the latter part of August he was taken sick, and I sent for Dr. 
Oviatt. He said the boy had painters'" colic, and as he did not improve 
I became discouraged, and mixed some arsenic in his tea. He died the 
next day, and the doctor said it was painters' colic. 

Then my little daughter Ann Eliza took the chills and fever, and was 
continually sick. This made me downhearted and discouraged again. I 
bad some arsenic in the house which I purchased in Harlem, and I put it. 



Li YD I A SHERMAN. 05 

in the medicine I bought for her to cure the chills. I gave it to her 
twice, then she was taken sick as the others, were, and died about noon 
four days afterward. She was the happiest child I ever saw. 

I then kept house until the following May, going out as usual to do 
nursing. About that time Lydia, my eldest daughter, went to New York 
with work, was taken sick, and after an illness of 21 days she died a 
natural death. I never gave her anything the doctor did not order. Then 
I went to Sailorsville, Pa., with a family named Maxom. It was not a 
profitable venture, so I returned to New York and went to live with my 
step-daughter, Mrs. Thompson. Then I took a situation with Mr. Coch- 
ran, who kept a sewing machine establishment in Canal street. There I 
became acquainted with Mr. James Curtiss. He asked me to go to Strat- 
ford, Conn., to take care of his aged mother and keep house for them. I 
consented to go for $8.00 per month. I lived there eight months. One 
day Mr. John Fairchild, at whose store I bought our groceries, asked me 
if I would like to keep house for a man who had just lost his wife. In 
this way I became acquainted with Mr. Hurlburt, who lived in Coram, 
Huntington. After I had been a few days with him he asked me to 
marry him, which I did Nov. 22, 1868. The ceremony was performed 
by the Rev. Mr. Morton in his own house. We lived happily for four- 
teen months. About three months after we were married Mr. Hurlburt 
made his will. He was subject to fits of dizziness. 

One day he was unwell, and he ate clams and drank cider with salera- 
tus in it. Then he became worse. On one occasion he made me drink 
ciuer and saleratus, after which I became very sick and dizzy, and I took 
to vomiting. Finally Mr. Hurlburt became worse, and about 5^ o'clock 
one morning the old man died. Now I wish to say that I never gave 
Mr. Hurlburt anything that would cause sickness, though there may 
have been arsenic mixed with the saleratus which he put into the 'cider. 

About two months after Hurlburt died, I heard that Horatio N. Sher- 
man of Birmingham wanted me to take a little baby to board. I met 
Mr. Sherman one Sunday morning. He introduced himself to me, and 
said that he had another object in calling besides getting me to take care 
of his baby. He wanted me as his housekeeper, because his mother-in- 
law and his daughter could not get along well together I said I would 
think about it. Two weeks later he came again and offered to marry 
me. I told him we ought to be better acquainted. He said that he was, 
compelled to get some one, as he could not. have the old woman in the 
house, as she was creating a constant disturbance. He then went away, 
and I did not see him for three or four weeks ; but at the end of that time 
he found me a tenant for my farm, which ended in my lending him $300. 

In July, 1870, 1 lent him $300 more, and on the 3d of September, 1870, 
■we went to Mr. Sherman's sister's house, in Bridgewater. Mass., and were 
married. 



96 LYDIA SHERMAN. 

After we had been married about two months, Mr. Sherman said on« 
day that he wished his babe (Frank) would die, as then the old woman 
should not stay another day in the house. I was full of trouble, and not 
knowing what to do, I was tempted to give him (Franky) something to 
get him out of the way, for I thought he would be better off. They had 
arsenic in the house. The old lady had used it before to poison rats. I 
put some of it in some milk, and only gave it to him once. Being quite 
feeble, he began to be sick and to vomit. I sent for a doctor, but he said 
fc'ie child was not out of danger, though he was better. This was in the 
forenoon. That night the child died at 11 o'clock. This was Nov. 15, 1870. 

Mr. Sherman then took to drink, and I supported the family for about 
six months. During this time I found that he had dissipated the money 
I gave him, instead of paying his bills with it, so I had to pay out about 
$300 more for him. Then came Christmas, and Ada devoted a great 
deaj of time in decorating the church. T furnished her with all her 
clothes and paid her dressmaking bills. On Christmas Eve Ada was 
taken sick and Dr. Beardsley was again sent for. He prescribed a brandy- 
sling for her, but Mr. Sherman drank all the liquor I bought. I could 
not keep a drop for Ada. The next morning she was no better, and we 
sent for Dr. Dutton of Milford. When the doctor came Mr. Sherman 
was so drunk that he could not walk straight. Mr. Sherman asked me 
for §10 to pay the doctor. I refused to give it to him, saying that I 
would pay the doctor myself. Then he got mad and went out. 

That made me feel so bad that I was tempted to do as I had done be- 
fore. I had some arsenic in the house, which I mixed in her tea and 
gave to her twice. She died the next morning. 

Then Mr. Sherman began drinking more than ever. Sunday he went 
out and returned very drunk. Monday he went out again and returned 
in the evening. He drank a cup of chocolate and then went out to get 
some greens for dinner. 

While he was gone he was taken sick, and he came home immediately. 
I had about a pint of brandy in the house, and I put some arsenic in it. 
That night he drank it and the next morning he was very sick. I did 
"not mean to kill him. I only wanted to make him sick of liquor. The 
next day he drank more of the brandy and was worse. I sent for Dr. 
Beardsley and told him that Mr. Sherman had one of his old spells. Ho 
continued to grow worse, other •doctors were called in, but he died at 
"ight o'clock the following morning. 



THE ENTD 



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